War Child
by AlcatrazisGod
Summary: [AU] Ulquiorra and Ichigo have taken a month long vacation to Shanghai. They will soon realize this was a bad idea when a strange woman, who just might be a high ranking member of a local triad, develops a crush on Ichigo. Meanwhile, the Shanghai PD has decided that it would be a good idea to send their two most incompetent officers to investigate this underground society.
1. Our Friend, November

_Note: I hope you all enjoy this story. If you would like to see more of the character, Eva Yomasa, she is also featured in my NSR series. This could be considered a squeal to one of my other stories, 'A Lingering Ghost,' but the two are NOT related in anyway; other than the fact that Ichigo and Ulquiorra are getting themselves into trouble. Please review and all of that other amazing stuff. And without further delay I present... Warchild._

* * *

**Day ****1****- ****Our Friend, November**

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

It was nearing midnight when a black and yellow motorcycle went speeding down an overpass in downtown Shanghai. Two people were riding this bike. The woman driving was rather thin and well over five feet tall. She wore black boots that ran up, nearly to her knees. She wore black pants, along with a black shirt under a casual, black jacket. The woman also commonly wore a pearl bracelet on her right wrist.

The woman had black hair that reached to her upper back along with ominous cyan eyes, and a gentle smile that never faded, no matter the mood. Her name was Eva Yomasa.

Meanwhile, the man sitting behind her on the bike, while holding on to the railing was around six feet tall. He had short black hair, brown eyes, a white shirt, and green, baggy pants. His name was Tren Yomasa.

"Eva, would you please slow down," he pleaded as they nearly hit an oncoming car, had Eva not swerved off at the last moment.

"Oh, you'll be fine, Tren," she said calmly as if all was normal.

"You're freaking me out, sis," Tren exclaimed. "Okay, so we're going a little fast, but that is nothing to worry about," Eva replied in her usually serene tone. "We are literally going _twenty_ miles over the speed limit," Tren yelled.

"Really," Eva questioned in a slightly curious tone, "I thought I was at least going faster than that." With that said Eva abruptly speed up to an upsetting degree for pour Tren.

"Why is it," he began loudly before flinching at an extremely sharp turn down a busy intersection. "That every time you get a new bike, _I_ end up coming along for the joy ride!?"

"I think you like it," Eva stated as her smile only grew from underneath her helmet. "God, I hope you get stopped by the fucking police," Tren exclaimed. "Now that isn't very nice," Eva informed innocently.

"No," Tren replied, "I just want them to take me so I can at least get home tonight without skid marks on my face!" "That's why you should always wear a helmet," said Eva.

"Alright, where is your deal going down," Eva questioned. "You can go ahead and stop here," Tren replied as he checked his pockets, finding both a knife and a plastic baggy in each one.

Eva pulled over at a rapid pace and slammed the breaks, nearly sending her brother flying off ahead of her. "I'll wait here for you," she assured kindly as she took off her helmet.

"I would hope so," Tren said with suspicion before walking off towards a dark alley.

Tren jogged down the alleyway until he saw another man standing against a wall to the right. "Yo, what's up man," Tren asked as he came to a stop, and the man quickly handed him a wad of yuan. Tren counted the banknotes quickly and handed the bag over. "See you around," the stranger stated. "Yeah, you ever run out and you know who to call," Tren reminded.

The man quickly ran off and Tren checked his surroundings before shoving the yuan in his pocket and walked back out onto the crowded streets, illuminated by the amber lights above.

Eva noticed Tren walking back up to her. She took out a blue stick of gum from her pocket and slipped it into her mouth.

"Well, I think I'm going home," Eva announced with a yawn. "Aw," Tren said as he kicked the ground and disappointment, "You're not gonna roll with us tonight?" "Sorry little brother, but I'm rather tired," she said with her eternal smile.

"I'm sure you can get back on your own," Eva continued and returned to her seat on the motorcycle.

"Yeah, I guess," Tren replied with a sigh. Eva then sped off onto the streets, leaving her brother to enjoy the rest of the night.

* * *

_(Location: Karakura, Japan)_

Meanwhile, at the Kurosaki clinic, Ichigo was sound asleep in his bed.

Ulquiorra quietly opened the door and walked over to the strawberry's bed with a megaphone in hand.

He held the megaphone to Ichigo's ear, "_Wake up_," he said loudly.

Ichigo immediately sat up with a shout. "What the hell," he breathed in shock as he realized Ulquiorra was the source of disturbance.

"I thought this would wake you up," Ulquiorra announced with his usual depression. "Yeah, it woke me up and about half of the population in this country," Ichigo complained.

"Oh, you are simply exaggerating," said Ulquiorra in a dismissive tone. "Now hurry up and get ready," he continued as he walked out of the room, "Our plane to Shanghai leaves in about three hours."

Ichigo looked at the time to see it was around 1am. "Why did you wake me up this early if our plane doesn't leave until 4 O'clock!?"

"Because," Ulquiorra began with a scold, "I have been waiting for this vacation for a very long time, and your laziness will not get in the way again."

With that said the teen of despair left the room.

Ichigo rolled his eyes as he stood up. He walked over to his closet and threw on the first clothes he had laid eyes on as he was too tired to worry about appearance.

He picked up the bags he had packed the night before and on his way to the bathroom, threw them down the stairs.

Ulquiorra walked into the living room and turned on the kitchen lights before finding a seat at the dinner table.

He let out a tired sigh while waiting for Ichigo to shower and get dressed.

Ulquiorra tapped his index on the table for about fifteen minutes until Ichigo finally came down the stairs. The strawberry stepped over to the table and threw himself in one of the seats.

"About time," Ulquiorra said with a depressed scold, "Did you feel like going as slowly as a human could possibly manage?" "Ah, shut up," Ichigo snapped with a dismissive wave, "We have plenty of time to kill."

"No, we do not," Ulquiorra replied while glaring at his latter.

"In fact our bus leaves in," Ulquiorra then paused and pushed up his right sleeve to check his watch. "Five minutes," he finally concluded.

The two looked at each other with puzzled expressions before darting towards the front door.

Just before they could reach the door however, Isshin stepped in the way with an overly dramatic expression.

"Isshin," Ulquiorra warned with a death dealing scold. "I understand your current position. _However_, I will not hesitate to beat you until you are firmly out of our way."

Isshin immediately stepped aside, not wanting to make someone like Ulquiorra more upset than he already is.

"Well, have fun," he said nervously. "See you in a month," Ichigo called while he and his companion left the house and into the night.

* * *

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

Tren walked through a more quiet neighborhood, the roads were dark as there were very few streetlights to illuminate the path.

He turned a corner and came to a small two story condo. The walls were beige and the apartments were split by a fire escape running through the middle. Underneath the fire escape lied to garages. The one on the right was closed up while the one on the left was open, revealing a red car and three people talking to one another around it.

The first man was named Chou Weo. He had a dark red shirt, blue jeans, short brown hair, and beige eyes.

The man to his right was named Tong Jun. Tong wore a black shirt with shiny gold lettering which read, "死亡航班." He also wore a black belt along with gray pants. Strangely enough, Tong had terracotta eyes and white hair along with a light, white mustache.

The man standing by a nearby wall had forest green eyes, shiny black hair, brown pants, and a gray shirt. His name was Zhang Tao.

"_Yo_," Tren called out with a wave, "The fuck is up, guys?"

"Well, dumb ass Chou here, broke his car," Tong replied with a groan before lifting the hood up and examining the engine.

"Man, that shit wasn't my fault," Chou retorted with a dismissive wave. "Yeah, it is," Zhang reminded, "After all, I'm pretty sure it was you who hit that stop sign."

"How the fuck does one stop sign break a car," Chou asked while lifting his hands in the air, dramatically. "If you ask me," Chou continued, "It's all the Illuminati's fault!"

"Oh, here we go again," Tren said with a roll of his eyes. "No way, man," Chou began, "It was those guys who put that stop sign in front of me!" "Okay dude," Zhang interrupted, "How many times do I have to tell you not to listen to that Alex Jones, _asshole_ when you're high!?"

"I'm not high," Chou snapped, "But I'm about to be!"

"Word," asked Tren, "You guys broke down for hitting a stop sign?"

Tong then grabbed a jack and placed it under the front tire to the right side. He lifted the car up until there was enough room for him to slide under.

"It doesn't look like you hit a stop sign," Tong announced as he had noticed a large amount of water had sprayed into the bottom of the car.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that part," Zhang said and threw his right hand up in defeat. "You don't... have to tell them about that," Chou said with discouragement. "No, I'm fucking telling them," Zhang said in anger.

"This dumb shit," Zhang continued and pointed to Chou, who was now running back into the doorway leading to the house. "Decided it would be a good idea to park over a goddamn fire hydrant!"

"The fuck, Chou," Tren asked with a laugh, "Did you think you were playing GTA or some shit!?" "He's lying," Chou called back from inside.

"You damn kids and your fire hydrants," Tong murmured in a growl from underneath the wrecked car.

"So where is Eva at," asked Zhang, "I thought you guys were going to pick up her new bike and come back here."

"Oh, she's kicking it back at her place for the night," Tren replied, "I tell you though, the bitch is crazy!" "No shit," Zhang laughed, "I told you not to go with her to get that stupid motorcycle."

"I think in over the time period of two hours," Tren began, "We might have broken every road law in all of China!"

"Sounds like she's got more balls that you rejects," Tong announced.

Zhang rolled his eyes and grabbed a bottle on the desk behind himself which was littered in old tools and nails.

"Alright guys I'm mother fucking beat," Tren announced as he walked inside the house.

Tren continued through a small hallway and into the living room. Inside was a flat screen television, two lounge chairs, a couch, and on the wall to the left, in between two windows was a large oil painting of Clint Eastwood.

Tren looked over to see Chou was facing away from him on the couch, watching television, while smoking something which did not appear to be completely legal.

Tren sighed tiredly and walked back into the hallway, he then stepped up the stairwell which lied at the end of the hall.

* * *

Meanwhile, Eva had slowed down on her bike and was now driving along the river which ran through Shanghai.

The area she was now in was rather dark as there where only warehouses in her surroundings. She stopped as soon as she had reached a specific one which had large, red doors.

Eva took out a pair of black rubber gloves from the interior pocket on the right side of her jacket and slipped them on, as to not leave fingerprints.

"I should probably go to sleep," she told herself in her usually calming tone while her gentle smile did not fade. "But before I do, I should check on the trash first."

She walked over to an average sized, side door on the right wall of the warehouse.

Eva opened it up and flipped on the light switch next to her. She quietly stepped in and looked around to all of the large, wooden crates that lined the shelves. Each crate had what appeared to be air holes drilled into the lid.

She peered into one of the holes in a nearby crate to see a rather scrawny human curled into a fetal position.

Eva's everlasting smile grew slightly at this sight and she continued over to a table towards the middle of the warehouse.

"By now I'm sure most of you are asleep," Eva began quietly. "And even if you aren't, I already know you are uneducated. So you either cannot hear my voice, or know my words. I decided to take a little visit even though I should be resting, rather than wasting my time speaking with a product."

Even though Eva was rather angry she remained completely calm and kept her composure as she always did. The only way anyone could read her emotions was the movements of her eyes. On occasion her smile would shift to a more sadistic one but that is a rare occurrence.

"I know that tomorrow," Eva said in a slightly pondering tone, "This batch will be shipped to San Francisco. From there, you will be placed in auction, and handed over to a master where you belong. But before you go there is a story I would like to part you all with."

Eva rolled her shoulders back to relax herself before continuing. "There was a man who lived almost a century ago named Heinrich Himmler. He grew up in Germany and moved from a Catholic school to supporting a movement called National Socialism. Mr. Himmler took a very high rank in this party and soon it became the only party in Germany."

The cyan eyed woman stopped and pulled out her phone from her left pocket. She checked the time and placed the phone back into her pocket. "Anyway," she continued and eyed one of the people who she had noticed was watching her from a hole in the side of his box.

"Heinrich would frequent a camp that would soon be known as Auschwitz. One day he took a routine visit and watched a line of people who were being prepared for a firing squad. Heinrich then noticed a little boy who was different from the rest. This boy had blonde hair and blue eyes. Heinrich asked this child if maybe there was a mix up and he wasn't suppose to be in this camp which was reserved exclusively for Jews and Gypsies. The boy said that there was no mistake, he was Jewish. At this point, poor Heinrich could not save the child, but he did try."

Eva then stood up and walked over to the box which contained the boy who was watching her; who conveniently, also had blue eyes.

Her smile grew even more but she did not become overly excited as she loomed over the box. "Let me ask you a question, _slave_," she said in a whisper while leaning downwards. "Do you think I should spare you just because you have blue eyes?"

Eva tilted her head pleasantly and shut her eyes with a playful smile while she awaited her answer. However, the child in the crate remained silent as he was foreign and did not understand what she was asking.

Eva abruptly kicked the boy through the air hole but did not loose control of herself, nor her composure.

"Well even if you did want to be free," she began, "I would never do it. I hate you, I hate you with all of my heart."

With that said, Eva left the warehouse.

She sat back on her new motorcycle and drove off into the night.

* * *

Day would soon come and around 12pm, would be the time in which Ulquiorra and Ichigo arrived in the city.

A taxi would drop them off downtown which was only a few blocks away from their hotel.

"Why didn't you just ask him to take us to the hotel," Ichigo inquired as he picked up his bags.

"I wanted to see at least _some_ of the city before we get to the hotel," Ulquiorra informed, "I assume we will take the rest of the day to unpack and become acquainted with our rooms."

Ulquiorra then headed off ahead, "Come on now," he began. "I think the hotel is in this direction."

"You _think_," Ichigo questioned loudly, "The hell does that mean!?"

"I know I did not expressly tell you this," Ulquiorra replied, "But I do not speak Mandarin so there is about a fifty-fifty chance that I read the map incorrectly and we ended up on the wrong side of town."

"_What_," Ichigo asked in a yell.

"Oh," Ulquiorra said with his right index in the air, as he had just remembered something. "And we might not even be in Shanghai."

"I'm just gonna act like I didn't hear that," Ichigo announced in shock.

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes before continuing over to a walkway on the road ahead. "So, what are we going to do while we're here for an entire month," asked Ichigo as he ran up to his latter. "Kurosaki," Ulquiorra replied while he tapped his foot, waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green.

"This is Shanghai, we will have plenty to do."

The light then turned green, causing Ichigo and Ulquiorra to rush across. Once they made it to the other side, Ulquiorra immediately noticed a shop filled willed with tourism items such as brochures, maps, and other such information.

"I'm going to ask for directions in here," Ulquiorra announced. "I thought you didn't speak Mandarin," Ichigo retorted. Ulquiorra let out a sigh of disappointment, "I lied," he informed, "Although I cannot read it."

"You ass," Ichigo muttered to himself as he watched Ulquiorra walk off.

Meanwhile, Eva Yomasa was riding her motorcycle through the streets, passing any car that came her way.

She then noticed someone standing to her left, who had bright orange hair and an immortal scold on his face.

Eva's grin grew from underneath her helmet, "Hmm, look at you," she said to herself before abruptly pulling over and parking behind him. She quickly took her helmet off and placed it on the seat behind herself.

Ichigo was minding his own business, waiting for Ulquiorra to show up when a voice could be heard from behind, "_Hey you_!"

Ichigo turned around and immediately blushed at the sight of this strange woman with cyan eyes and black hair.

"I like your hair," Eva announced. "Uh, thanks," Ichigo replied with a scratch of his head.

Eva then stood up and walked over to him. "My name is Eva Yomasa," she announced. "Ichigo," the orange head replied hesitantly.

"That's a cute name," Eva said with a laugh. "Hey," Ichigo growled in offense.

"Okay," Ulquiorra announced as he walked up from behind Ichigo. "Turns out, we are in the right..." Ulquiorra then noticed Eva standing in front of him. "I see you've already made a friend," he said with a sigh.

"Oh, uh, Ulquiorra," Ichigo stuttered, "This is Eva." "Interesting," Ulquiorra replied without interest.

"Well," Eva began, "I'll leave you two to find your hotel." "Okay," Ichigo stated, "Um, maybe we'll see you again," he continued as the two walked off.

"_Yes_," Eva replied once they had disappeared into the crowd, "Yes, you will."

"So where did you say the hotel was," asked Ichigo.

Ulquiorra then walked over to a set of revolving doors and pushed one forward, "This is it," he replied.

The two stepped in and Ichigo waited by an elevator while Ulquiorra went over to check them in.

He eventually came back and tossed a key to his latter, "Your room is next door to mine. Number 504 on floor 26," he informed. Ulquiorra then press a button and the two waited for the metal doors to open.

The eventually were able to step into the elevator where Ulquiorra pressed the button labeled 26 on the panel to his right and doors soon shut once more.

"So are you going to do anything today," asked Ichigo. "No," Ulquiorra confirmed, "I am tired, and I am going to take a nap."

"I think I'm probably going to do the same thing," Ichigo informed before the elevator doors opened up to their desired floor.

Ichigo noticed his room was to the left while Ulquiorra's was the first one to the right. "Tomorrow," Ulquiorra began, "We will check out the financial district."

"Yeah, that's fine," Ichigo replied as he walked over to his door. He swiped the card and opened it up quickly.

He threw his bags to the ground and looked inside the room which he will call home for the next thirty days.

It was rather large with two beds, white blankets and five pillows on each one. The bathroom was nearest to the front door on the right side of the hall while a closet lied on the opposite side. A desk along with a television sat on the wall opposite to the beds and the back wall was completely glass, allowing a rather nice view of the massive city below.

Ichigo threw himself onto one of the beds and fell asleep rather quickly.

* * *

Elsewhere, in an office at the police station of Shanghai, two officers sat in chairs while their superior scolded them.

The man on the right had black hair and green eyes; while the other had similar black hair and brown eyes.

They each wore identical uniforms. The man on the right was named Shei Wong and the man on the left was named Li Quang.

The man sitting behind the desk had gray eyes and brown hair. His name was Jo Wei.

Jo let out a sigh of disappointment as he leaned back in his chair. "Wow," he said with a disapproving shake of his head. "You guys, are the most retarded people I think I have ever met."

"If you think about it... It's not our fault," Li replied defensively. "What exactly did we do that was so terrible," Shei questioned with a lifted eyebrow.

"You tased a woman..." Jo began but was cut off. "Look, that chick was running straight at us while yelling quite aggressively," said Li.

"Someone stole her purse so she was running to you idiots for help," Jo practically yelled.

"Well, for the record," said Shei, "We didn't know that so we though she was coming to kill us. You know, like one of those anarchist assholes." "She wasn't an anarchist," Jo exclaimed, "And even if she was do you really think she would be screaming," Jo paused as he looked down to the report Li had already written up.

"Help me, help me," Jo continued as he read a quotation aloud. "Someone stole my purse." He then glared at Shei, "And instead of tazing the guy who stole the damn thing, you tased the victim!"

"Hey man," Shei said as he threw his hands in the air, "Could happen to anyone."

"When the fuck," exclaimed Jo, "Is it a common thing to be tased on the streets for having your purse stolen!?"

"Since an hour ago," Li mumbled.

Jo bit his lip angrily but quickly had an idea, "You know what," he began. "I've got the perfect case for you assholes."

"Oh yeah," Shei questioned with a hopeful smile, "Do I get to tase people?" "_Really_," Li asked as he scolded his partner.

"Zap," Shei said as his smile turned more sadistic, "Zap, zap, _zap_!"

"Yep," Jo replied with a nod, "I want you guys to investigate a local triad here in Shanghai."

"Uh," Li began nervously, "Shouldn't you get the undercover department to work on this. Or those special ops guys that are always hanging out by the water fountain."

"Or even someone who didn't fake their way through the police academy," Shei added.

"No," Jo replied with a shake of his head, "You see, the point of you guys doing this is so you will die." Li and Shei then glanced at each other nervously. "That's rude," said Li in a calm tone.

"We'll talk about this assignment more when you guys come back tomorrow," Jo announced. "Wait so we get to take off early," asked an excited Shei.

"It's more of a case of, I just don't want to look at you two for the rest of the day," Jo replied. "So, do we just leave," asked Li.

"Yeah, get the fuck out," Jo ordered. With a loud sigh the two got up and walked out the door.

"Man, this is bullshit," Li complained, "Yeah, that captain guy is mad at us for some reason," Shei replied.

"He's mad at you for tazing that woman," Li said while pointing an accusing finger at his partner. "She had it coming," Shei declared, "So what are we going to do about this new assignment?"

"I don't know," Li admitted, "Do you think we should try some undercover work?" "Hell no," Shei exclaimed, "That's either for people with a death wish or bad asses."

Shei then took out his pistol, randomly as he continued to speak. "I mean, undercover work is like taking out your pistol for no reason and shooting randomly in the office." With that said Shei abruptly shot a round into the main office.

"Ow, what the fuck, Shei," a voice yelled out in pain.

"Oh, sorry about that, man," Shei replied causally as if this were a normal occurrence. "Whatever dude," Li said with a tired wave, "I'll see ya tomorrow." "Okay, see ya," said Shei before the two went there separate ways.


	2. New World

**Day 2- New World**

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

_(Flashback)_

9 Year old Eva was walking down a concrete pathway in the city park as she normally did after her schooling was finished.

She stopped as soon as she noticed a man was scolding her from the distance. He did not look to be of a wealthy status, but at this point in Eva's life that did not seem to disturb her... at least not yet.

* * *

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

_(Present Day)_

Eva awoke and sat upright in her bed.

"Ugh," she began as she rolled her head around in a circle to relax herself. "I suppose I'll never live that day down." Eva then looked to a framed picture of a smiling Heinrich Himmler which she had always kept on her bedside table.

She tilted her head at the picture with the gentle smile she had always woken up with, whether rain or shine.

"I wish you could speak to me," she began in an odd tone yet her facial expressions did not change from their normal state.

"Just one word," Eva pleaded as she leaned towards the photo, but quickly snapped back to reality. "_Hmm_," she said, pretending that the picture of Himmler had suggested something. "You're right," she informed, "I should see Ichigo sometime."

She then reached over to a bottle of unprescribed pills which was to the right of the photo. Eva opened the bottle and allowed two of the purple capsules to fall into her left palm, before downing both of them.

* * *

Shei and Li where walking through the city, arguing as usual.

"Look," Shei began, "All I'm saying is that we could... _maybe_ kill someone and get away with it, if you played along."

"No, we wouldn't," Li retorted while scolding his partner. "No matter how much I play along with it, or however many elephants you bring to the damn theater the results are the same! If you shoot a man in the face with a shotgun, the cops are going to investigate you first."

"Man, that's bullshit! I hate cops," Shei complained while throwing his hands in the air. He then paused for a moment as a curious expression struck his face, "Say, what time do we have to be back at the police station?"

* * *

Ichigo woke up on his bed and looked to the clock on the table to his left.

He groaned and sat up. He then looked out the window, "I can't believe how big this city is," he said aloud.

It was rather cloudy today and Ichigo could not see the sun, but that could also have a lot to do with the inner city smog. "I should have never agreed to go on this little trip," Ichigo complained as he stood up and headed for his luggage which was still lying on the floor at the far corner of the room.

He knelt down and unzipped one of the bags when he noticed a letter slid under his door from the corner of his eye. He then heard footsteps walking past his room.

Ichigo quickly stood up and walked over to the door. He bent over and picked the envelope off the floor. When he did however, the door suddenly flew open. The door hit Ichigo in the head, causing him to fall into a sitting position.

"You'd better not be sleeping in here," Ulquiorra warned with a depressed scold before he realized Ichigo was sitting in front of him.

"Oh you're awake," he said with a lifted eyebrow in curiosity, "No matter Kurosaki, are you ready to see this vast city?"

"Did you plan that," Ichigo asked in irritation as he held up the envelop. Ulquiorra snatched the letter out of his hand and opened it up. "What do we have here," he questioned.

The note read:

"_Dear __Strawberry,_

_P__lease meet me __outside your hotel at 8:00 __tomorrow night__._

_~Yomasa"_

"Well," Ulquiorra began as he threw the paper to the ground, "I see you have plans with that Eva woman tomorrow." "Yeah, nice observation," Ichigo replied with a curious lifting of his eyebrow. "I can see how she would know which hotel we are staying at because it was right by the place we met her. But how did she know where my room was?"

"Oh, I told her," Ulquiorra informed in a casual manor. "What," Ichigo questioned in shock.

"Yes," said Ulquiorra, "I was in the lobby early this mourning and I saw her. She asked where your room was and I gave her the number."

Ulquiorra sighed and backed away to the door frame, "So what do you think we should do for breakfast?"

Ichigo thought for a moment on this matter. "Uh, why don't we just get something to eat here in the hotel and go explore," he suggested with a careless shrug.

"Very well," Ulquiorra stated before turning and walking out the door. He then stopped and leaned against the wall at the opposite end of the outside hallway. "Go ahead and get ready," said the depressed teen, "I'll wait here."

Ichigo nodded and continued to gather his clothes out of a bag.

Soon Ichigo stepped out of the room and closed the door behind himself. The two walked over and Ulquiorra pressed the call button near a set of elevator doors. The metal doors opened after a few moments and the duo stepped inside.

The doors would reopen at the lobby where Ichigo and Ulquiorra walked over to a separate restaurant area.

The two took a seat at one of the tables and waited their for awhile.

"So, what exactly should we do today," asked Ulquiorra. "Why are you asking me," Ichigo questioned, "You're the one with the map and you're the one who speaks the language!"

"I suppose you are right, Kurosaki," Ulquiorra replied in a prideful tone.

"I am right," Ichigo insisted as he leaned back in his seat.

Neither he nor Ulquiorra however, took notice into the fact that a woman was watching them through one of the building's windows. A woman wearing all black, while sitting on her motorcycle, parked next to a street curb.

Eva's smile grew from underneath her helmet before she drove off.

* * *

Chou was sitting in the dinning room with a bowl of cereal when Tren walked into the kitchen, which was only a room away.

"Yo," Tren said in a tired tone as he opened up the refrigerator.

"You've never woken up this early," Chou announced with a shocked grin. "I know," Tren said and threw the door shut. "Man, what the fuck am I doing up," he asked himself before he walked into the dinning room and sat in the chair across the table from Chou.

"So, what are you gonna be doing today," Tren asked with a yawn.

"Not much today, dude," said Chou. "I'm probably just gonna chill here for the day." "Shit man," Tren chuckled, "I'd like to hang here too but Tong and I have a tone of shit to do today."

"Oh yeah," Chou questioned. "Yep," Tren assured as he pointed his right thumb over his shoulder and towards the stairwell, "I'm just waiting for Tong to wake up now."

Chou then finished eating his breakfast.

He took the bowl and walked over to the kitchen. Chou then opened the dishwasher up and tossed the bowl inside before closing it up again.

At that moment, Tong walked down the stairs.

"You ready to go, man," asked Tren as he stood up. "Yeah," Tong replied with a nod and turned to Chou.

"Hey Chou," he asked, "You want us to pick anything up for you while we're out?"

"Nah, I'm cool, dude," Chou said as he walked past Tong and towards the stairwell. "See you guys later," he called out.

"Lets just hurry this up," Tren said while walking over to the garage door.

* * *

"Ugh, this is ridiculous," Shei announced as he and Li stood in Jo's office.

"What's ridiculous about it," asked Jo, "The fact that you guys have to do a small amount of paper work? What did you think was going to happen!? You two end up fighting off waves of criminals with machine guns?"

"No," Li retorted, "We figured that if we just remained quiet, everyone would forget we had work to do." "Yeah, that or someone does it for us," Shei added.

Jo scolded them for a few moments, "Get the fuck out."

Shei and Li left the office while Li threw the door shut behind himself. "Man," Shei said with a shake of his head. "What is up with this department, it's like all they do is work! It's just plain g_ross_."

"These guys just don't understand us," Li proclaimed with an index pointing to the ceiling. "Understand what about us," asked Shei.

"They don't understand the fact that we're loose cannons," Li replied. "_We are_," Shei questioned in shock.

"Of course it all makes perfect since now," Li declared while he held his right fist to his chin.

"Dude, what are you talking about," Shei asked with a puzzled expression. "It's obvious that the department cant control us so they want us to go out there and deal with those nasty criminals with guns and explosions!"

"That sounds like fun," Shei announced. "Of course it does," Li retorted, "Now come on, lets go blow some shit up!"

"Wait," Shei said, stopping his partner in his tracks. "Remember? The captain wants us to fill out those reports."

"Oh yeah," Li muttered in disappointment, "We'll finish those reports and then we'll hit the streets Die Hard style."

"Yeah," Shei agreed with enthusiasm.

* * *

Eva opened the front door to her home and shut it behind herself. As usual, her house was dark, and uncomfortably silent.

Eva never turned on a light in the house as the abrupt shift in brightness always annoyed her. The only time anything would illuminate this dark realm, is when Eva would occasionally switch her on television in the dead of night.

She was also very careful as to not make too much of a ruckus around her home. Eva despised loud noises or anything else that may upset her gentle mood.

Eva took off her helmet and placed it on a nearby table before walking out of the rather messy living room and to her bathroom.

Eva leaned over, pressing her hands against the bathroom counter and examined herself in the mirror. Her cyan eyes then averted to the right as she took notice in something odd about her reflection.

Eva could clearly see a young girl through the mirror standing behind her. The girl looked no older than nine years of age with identical cyan eyes and black hair.

"What are _you_ doing here," Eva asked in her usually gentle tone. Her smile was still ever present but her hands were visibly shaking in anger.

The young girl did not say word in response and simply tilted her head silently.

"If you have nothing to say," Eva began calmly, although it was easy to see by the tone of her voice that she was quickly loosing her composure.

"Then leave," Eva continued. She waited for a few moments before abruptly punching the reflection of the little girl's face, causing the mirror to shatter, "I said _leave_!"

Eva then took her hand away from the broken glass where she no longer saw the reflection of her younger self.

As Eva went to examine her bleeding hand she snapped back to reality, realizing that she was speaking to nobody.

"I probably should lie down," she finally said, her serene tone along with her normal smile returning.

Eva opened up a cabinet above herself, and took out a roll of medical tape. She wrapped the bandages around her hand before placing the tape back in the cabinet and shutting the door.

She walked back into her living room and sat down in a recliner. Eva sat there in silence for a few moments before reaching into her pocket and taking out an unlabeled bottle of _medication_. She opened the lid and tapped the bottle against her left palm until two pills fell out. She promptly swallowed the capsules and closed the container up again, before throwing it to the floor.

She must have sat there for an hour with her right arm outstretched over her forehead as she pondered on something to occupy her for the rest of the day.

Eva's smile then grew as something came to her mind, "I know what I can do."

* * *

Ichigo and Ulquiorra were standing in a plaza while a large fountain spewed water into the air a few feet taller than they were.

They watched quietly as a red flag with five gold stars flew high in the air above.

"Well, I think I've seen enough of this area," Ulquiorra said with a bored sigh.

"What are we suppose to do now," asked Ichigo as he tried to thing of something they could do to pass the time.

"I don't know," Ulquiorra admitted with a shrugs of his shoulders. The depressed teen then headed off for the street, "Well I'm going back to the hotel for the rest of the day," he announced casually.

"Yeah alright," Ichigo said as he followed his latter out of the plaza and back to the hotel.

* * *

Elsewhere, Chou stepped down the stairs to see that Tren and Tong had returned from whatever they had set out to do for the day.

As Chou reached the ground level of the house he saw Zhang in the kitchen, holding a glass of water under the running sink.

"Zhang, you shouldn't drink that," Chou warned as he walked over to his friend.

"Why not Chou," Zhang questioned as he reached over to turn the sink off. "That's tap water man, you don't know what the government dumps in that," Chou exclaimed.

"Ah fuck, here we go," Zhang sighed with a roll of his eyes. "No way man, that shit is not cool," Chou declared while pointing an accusing finger at the glass. "I'm telling you," Chou continued while he glanced over his shoulder as if someone would overhear him.

"Oh man, what if they _want_ us to drink it," Chou questioned in paranoia. Zhang smiled in disbelief as he was curious as to what crazy theory Chou's rambling would lead too.

"There could be some sort of space ship above that zapped our plumbing, and if you drink that you'll be brainwashed to kill some political figure!"

"Yo, you really need to relax," Zhang said in a casual manor.

At that point, Chou could no longer take his own fear and tipped the glass which Zhang was still holding. The water poured out into the sink which caused Chou to sigh in relief.

"You can thank me later," Chou stated as he walked off from the supposed, tense situation.

"I'll thank you after you pour me another glass of water, asshole," Zhang exclaimed.

He then rolled his eyes once more and went to refill his glass before stopping himself. "Ugh," he said as he no longer had a thirst for water, "I'll just get a soda."

Zhang then placed the glass in the sink and walked over to the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, Tong was sitting on the couch in the living room when his phone rang out. He took the cellular device out of his pocket and placed it to his ear.

"Hello," he asked with a sigh.

"_Dude_," a voice asked on the other line, "Can you hit me up with some shit? I'm running low."

"Alright, meet me at the usual spot," Tong said in boredom and hung up the phone.

Tong then stood up and pulled a pistol out of the couch comforter he was previously lying on. He walked over to the kitchen and opened up one of the bottom counters where he took out a blue, plastic bag and placed it on the counter above.

Tong closed the cabinet door and stood upright. He opened up the bag where a white cardboard box lied.

He peaked inside to view the contents which did not look entirely legal before closing it back up and walking out to the garage with the bag in hand.

Tong took out a key chain from his back pocket and unlocked the car, where he promptly drove off.

* * *

"_Hey_," Shei called out as he walked over to Li's desk with a file in hand. "You wont believe what I found, bro!"

"What do you have," asked an uninterested Li. "Not only," Shei said as he sat down on the far corner of Li's desk and tossed the file over his keyboard.

"Did I learn the name of this triad but I also know the name of a previous _Vanguard _of the gang!"

"No shit," Li questioned in shock. "Nope," Shei reassured as he watched Li open up the file.

"There name is apparently the _Beige Lotus_. And I know that a Vanguard of their last generation was named Lou Yomasa."

Li scanned the file curiously before closing it up and returning his attention to Shei. "How did you find this out?" "I dug through some old arrest records," Shei admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And what happened to this Lou guy," Li questioned further. "It's all there in the report," Shei announced while gesturing towards the folder. "Yeah, but I hate reading," Li reminded.

Shei sighed and dropped his shoulders in defeat, "He died of heart disease about... uh, five years ago," She finally informed with a curious scratch of his head.

"Do we know his successors," Li inquired.

"Nah," said a disappointed Shei. "Or at least not that I know of. I'm still looking though."

"I'm sure he had a kid or something," said Li. "Oh, definitely," Shei reassured before standing up and walking off.

Li then tilted his head, "Hey where are you going?"

"I'm going on a break, _duh_!"

"What," Li questioned in shock, "Is it even time for a break!?" "It is for me," Shei assured while pointing a thumb at himself in confidence.

"But your just starting to make progress," Li exclaimed.

"Yeah," Shei retorted, "But I've been doing nothing but pure work for like... over an hour so I _need_ a break!"

* * *

Ichigo and Ulquiorra stepped off of a bus and back onto the sidewalk.

"Are you hungry, Kurosaki," Ulquiorra questioned as he watched the many cars speed by.

"Uh, not really," Ichigo replied. "Why? Are you?" "Of course not, I just ate," Ulquiorra stated with a sigh of disappointment as if Ichigo had just asked him the most ignorant question he had ever heard.

"Then why did you bring it up," Ichigo questioned loudly as he threw his hands in the air. "Because I was curious," Ulquiorra informed with a scold.

This caused Ichigo's eye to twitch in irritation, "I really hate when you do crap like that," he said.

"Oh, well poor little you," said Ulquiorra.

The two continued on towards their hotel. They walked through a familiar set of revolving doors which lead to the lobby; where the duo continued on to an elevator.

Ulquiorra pressed the proper button which would take them to their floor and they would soon be lifted off and upwards to the 26th floor.

When the doors reopened both Ichigo and Ulquiorra where caught off guard to see Eva Yomasa leaning against a wall with her usually innocent, yet slightly manipulative expression on her face.

"I'm sorry to have dropped in on you so suddenly," she said with a tilt of her head, "But I was bored and I thought I would come visit you a little early."

"Uh, that's fine," Ichigo said hesitantly, not knowing exactly how to react to the current situation.

"Well, I will see you tomorrow, Ichigo," Ulquiorra announced as he nodded to Eva before walking over to his room.

Ichigo stepped over to his door and opened it up, allowing Eva to enter. Ichigo walked in after wards and shut the door behind himself.

However, he had failed to take notice into Ulquiorra, who was eying Eva with suspicion just before she left his peripherals.

"Hmm, who is that woman," he asked himself and shut the door to his room.

Eva walked into the room and twirled around before allowing herself to fall into a sitting position on one of the beds.

"Nice room," Eva announced as she looked around. "Uh, thanks," Ichigo replied with a nervous tone.

"So," Ichigo said but paused for a moment, "Why are you so interested in me?"

Eva looked over to him as her smile seemed to grow, "I told you already," she informed. "I like your hair."

"Okay," Ichigo replied slowly while he lightly blushed at the complement and looked up at his orange hair.

"So why did you dye it," Eva questioned as she took off her jacket, and laid her back against the bed before shutting her eyes in a relaxed manor.

"It's actually a natural color," Ichigo informed. Eva opened one eye with curiosity, "A Jap with orange hair? That's gotta be a first," she said with a giggle.

Ichigo groaned and sat down in nearby chair.

"So where do you come from," Eva questioned. "Karakura town," Ichigo informed which caused Eva to laugh once more. "What's so funny," he questioned.

"Oh nothing," Eva replied, "I've just never heard of it. So I'm guessing it's a small place?"

"Yeah," Ichigo assured. "And how long are you going to be here in my city," Eva asked

"Ulquiorra and I are vacationing here for the rest of the month," Ichigo replied while he pointed a thumb over his shoulder as if Ulquiorra was standing right behind him.

"Do you have any family, _S__trawberry_?"

"Hey," Ichigo growled in irritation but he sighed knowing he would probably just have to get use to Eva's little nickname.

"Yes," he finally admitted, "I've got two sisters, Karin and Yuzu. And then there's my dad," he said the last bit in slight disgust only picturing what Isshin would have to say about someone like Eva.

"Surely you have mother," Eva announced with a yawn.

"I did," Ichigo informed darkly, "But she died when I was young." "Well that's unfortunate," Eva replied as she rolled over on her side.

"Hey are you going to sleep over there," Ichigo questioned with a scold.

"I might take a little nap if you don't mind," said Eva without turning back to him. "I do mind, you... you cant sleep here!"

"And why not," asked Eva. "Because... uh, I don't know," Ichigo said as he dropped his shoulders and looked to his feet, signaling he had given up.

Eva's smile grew at his reaction which she found rather comical but did not move; and soon fell into a deep sleep as she had been tired due to the fact that she only received around two hours of sleep the night before.

* * *

Tong drove down the streets of Shanghai before pulling over and parking next to a curb. He took his pistol from where he had stashed it underneath the seat and placed in the back area of his pants for easy access. He then grabbed the bag and stepped out of the car.

Tong threw the door shut and locked the car before walking forward into the winding alleys which were completely out of sight from the police or any other curious onlookers.

Tong passed one large alley which cars would occasionally drive on as he noticed a red car parked off to the left. He thought this was curious but assumed it was nothing and continued onwards.

He went down a thin and rather dark alley before coming across a rather suspicious looking fellow in a gray hooded jacket and blue jeans.

"Yo, whats up man," the stranger asked. Tong held out the blue bag with a casual nod but as soon as he did the man pulled a pistol on him.

"Hand it over," he ordered. Tong slowly reached for the pistol he had on him but knew it would not end well. He suddenly had an idea and pointed off behind the man.

"Oh, shit," Tong said in an act with wide eyes. "I'm not falling for that shit," the man exclaimed angrily.

"No, there's a fucking cop over there," Tong stated firmly. The man checked over his shoulders and as soon as he did, Tong pulled his pistol and shot the man three times in the chest.

The stranger fell to the ground dead. Tong then looked back to see that same car he had seen earlier had pulled out to his alley. He could visibly see another man aiming an assault rifle at him. Tong bolted off into a side alley before several shots where fired.

Tong hid around a nearby corner and sighed with relief as he heard the car speed away in a panic.

Tong then poked his head out and noticed the blue bag was still lying on the ground. "Good," he breathed with a roll of his eyes, "I'm gonna need that!"


	3. Serenity

_Note: Okay, I want to make sure I'm not leaving any characters out of this story too much so tell me. Is there any group of characters that you guys feel are being neglected in anyway?_

* * *

**Day 3- Serenity**

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

Eva woke up and took a look around to see Ichigo was sleeping on the opposite bed. She threw herself back onto the comforter with a sigh.

She then held her left arm out and pushed her sleeve up, revealing a rather expensive, silver watch. The time read, '_9:51__AM_.'

Her gentle smile reformulated as she rolled out of the bed and sat up on the right side of the mattress. She stood up and walked over to Ichigo's bed and sat down next to him.

Eva stroked his orange hair for a few moments before searching his side table for something to write on.

She found a piece of paper and took a pin out of her pocket. She jotted down a quick note and placed it in Ichigo's left hand.

Eva then placed the pen back into her pocket and walked over to her jacket which still laid on her bed. She put it back on and took out her bottle of pills from the right pocket.

She took off the lid and downed two pills before closing it back up, and concealing the bottle in her jacket once more.

Eva walked back over Ichigo's bed and laid down next to him.

"_Ugh_," she began quietly as to not wake Ichigo up. "I do not want to go anywhere today. But I have a meeting to get too and I'm sure Tren and his friends have gotten into some trouble since I've last spoke with them."

* * *

Meanwhile, Tong had finally returned back to Zhang's house and told everyone about the indecent that happened yesterday, and how he spent the entire night disposing of the body.

"Aw, shit man," Chou exclaimed as he grasped his hair in a panic and threw himself to the couch.

"Dude," Zhang began in a relaxed manor while holding his hand out, "Chou, calm the fuck down! You're gonna give yourself a heart attack."

"No fucking way, man," Chou retorted as he abruptly stood up on the couch, "Those guys who tried to kill Tong... They could be another gang, or maybe some other triad!" "Yeah," Tong admitted truthfully, "But if they were they would have gotten out of the car. Walked around that other alley and shot my ass into Swiss cheese."

"Oh yeah," asked Chou in a calmer tone, "Then what's your theory, Einstein!?"

"Dude, they were probably some dumb ass junkies and when their friend got shot the tried to pull a drive-by. But when I ran off they must have gotten scared and jetted!"

"So where is the coke," Tren asked with a curious expression. Tong thought on this for a moment as he inhaled the smoke from a marijuana joint. "Aw fuck, I knew I forgot something."

"You left about a kilo of coke in a back alley," Zhang questioned in shock. "Relax, I'll go back and find it," Tong said while making a calming gesture with his hands. "Dammit," Chou exclaimed, "That bag could have fingerprints on it, man!"

Chou then jumped onto the ground and walked off for the garage, "I'm going with you," he informed which caused Tong to roll his eyes.

The two walked out towards the car. Chou sat in the passenger's seat, while Tong got behind the wheel. They soon drove into the city.

* * *

Shei and Li where now on their way to the police station.

"So what's first on the agenda," asked Shei. "Well I figured once we get there we can take a coffee break," Li began. "Then we'll take another half hour to clear our heads. Then maybe we'll pretend to work until lunch."

"Sounds like we're doing what we always do," Shei replied. "And what's wrong with that," Li questioned with a careless shrug of his shoulder's. "Oh, I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. I just said that's what we always do!"

Shei and Li continued to walk until the reached a bus stop.

"Hey, do you think the captain is going to have us check out that hospital today for records on that... _Lou_ guy," asked Li.

"I hope not," Shei replied, "That hospital is like... a million kilometers away!" "Wait," Li stated in confusion, "No it's not! The hospital is just a few blocks from the station."

"Well, I don't know man," said Shei in an unsure tone.

Eventually, the bus arrived and the two stepped aboard. "Fuck, I hate public transportation," Li murmured as he looked around to all of the strange characters on the bus. "I don't know, I kind of like it," Shei stated. "You never know when your going to me some freaking crazy son of a bitch."

"Like the monkey dude on Train 8," Li questioned with a laugh. "You mean the guy who always acts like a howler monkey," Shei inquired and Li nodded. "The same guy who climbs upside down on the train ceiling like some sort of screwed up horror flick," Shei asked further and Li nodded once more. "Yeah, he's a fucking bad ass," Shei finally agreed.

* * *

Ulquiorra woke up in his bed with a sigh as he rolled over and sat upright.

He reached for the side table and opened up a drawer. Ulquiorra then pulled out a map of Shanghai and scanned it for anything remotely interesting.

"Hmm," he began in a pondering manor. "I suppose we can go to this restaurant for lunch, and in the mean time we could visit the Shanghai tower."

Ulquiorra stood up and threw the map on the bed. He walked over to the foot of his bed and picked up one of his bags.

He stood upright again and as he did, Ulquiorra immediately noticed something odd on the roof of a building which lied just across the street.

Ulquiorra could clearly see a man standing on the roof, looking over the edge as if he were about to jump off.

Ulquiorra tilted his head and simply watched for about fifteen minutes and sure enough, the man jumped off.

"I wonder what was going through your mind," Ulquiorra said quietly before returning his attention back to his bag. He eventually pulled out a red t-shirt, and black pants. "Hmm, I suppose I'll wear this for the day," he stated and walked over to the bathroom before shutting the door behind himself.

Eventually, Ulquiorra kicked in Ichigo's door to see the strawberry sitting on his bed, watching television. "Are we ready to go," Ichigo questioned as Ulquiorra walked in front of the television.

"Only if you are," Ulquiorra reminded with his usually depressed scold. "I am," Ichigo assured, "I just took a shower and everything. So what are we gonna do today?"

"I figured," Ulquiorra began while looking up to the ceiling. "We could first go down to the lobby and have breakfast. We could later go visit the Shanghai tower where I found an interesting restaurant for us to eat lunch at. Then I assumed we could also walk across the Lupu Bridge before taking a bus back here."

"Sounds good," Ichigo replied as he abruptly stood up and turned the television off. "Fantastic," said Ulquiorra in a calm tone, "Lets go."

* * *

Eva rushed back to her home and parked her motorcycle in her driveway. She then placed her helmet on the seat and walked quickly into her house, which was in a rather nice neighborhood at a less dense area of the city.

She threw the door shut behind herself and darted up the stairs. Eva stopped as she opened the door to her bedroom and check the time. She calmed down as soon as she realized she had plenty of time to spare.

"Oh, my meeting isn't for another two hours," she informed herself.

Eva then opened up her closet and examined her, all black wardrobe. "Hmm," she began and leaned over to gain a better look as her bedroom was usually the darkest room in the house.

She soon picked out a black, long sleeve shirt similar to the one she was already wearing except this shirt had a white oval illustrated at the center chest area.

Eva leaned over and took out a pair of black pants, and reached for a top shelf above the article of clothing before pulling down a black belt.

"Perfect," Eva stated with a wide smile. She then walked over to a dresser at the other end of the room and pulled the top drawer open. She took out a set of underwear, just as black as everything else she owned and walked over to the bathroom.

Eva would soon step out wearing her usual jacket and pear bracelet on her right hand. She was wearing her new shirt, tucked into her pants, revealing that she was also wearing her belt and usual black leather boots.

Eva took out a pack of gum threw a stick in her mouth before checking the time once more. "Ugh, I hope this meeting doesn't last as long as the last one did," she groaned while retaining her serene composure.

* * *

Tong and Chou arrived at the location where Tong was previously being shot at. They pulled over and stepped out of the vehicle.

"Aw fuck man," Chou began, "What if the cops have already found it!?"

"Would you shut up," asked Tong with a roll of his terracotta eyes. "Man, this ain't good," Chou continued. "I know that," retorted Tong.

The two walked down to the alleyway where the struggle of yesterday had transpired. Tong walked over and immediately noticed the blue bag sitting on the ground. Although it had been moved a few feet.

"Aw Jesus Christ, man," Chou exclaimed in relief. "I thought I left it over here," Tong said as he went to pick the bag up.

"Wait, _what_," Chou asked which caused Tong to stop in his tracks and turn to the paranoid man.

"What's wrong," asked Tong while gesturing curiously with his hands.

"Did you just say... it was _moved_!?" "Yeah," said Tong, unsure as to what the big deal was. "Fuck, you can't pick that thing up," Chou yelled as he leaped away.

"Why not," Tong questioned with a lifted eyebrow.

"Because man! That shit could be rigged in someway! Someone could have come by and placed a trip wire under it!"

Without arguing back Tong simply snatched the bag up which caused Chou to immediately flinch. "Nothing," Tong said with a scold before walking off. "You don't know that," Chou retorted as he began to relax.

* * *

Jo kicked open the door leading to the roof of the Shanghai Police Department with an angered expression.

He turned to see Shei and Li goofing off as usual.

"What the fuck are you idiots doing," he asked in a shout.

"Uh," Shei began, "We're reenacting the Matrix! _Duh_!" "You can't be serious," said Jo with a disapproving shake of his head.

"Well, of course we are," Li informed while crossing his arms.

"Aren't you suppose to be at the city hospital," Jo questioned. "You know? Doing your damn job!"

"Yes," Shei confirmed, "But right now we're on break, and if we leave now Keanu Reeves won't be able to save Morpheus!"

Jo bit his lower lip in irritation, "Get to that fucking hospital, _now_!"

"Okay," Li stated, "We're going. Geez!"

* * *

Tren walked into the kitchen with several boxes in his arms. He sat them down on the counter where Zhang was making a sandwich.

"What the hell is all of this," Zhang questioned.

"I'm glad you asked, Zhang," said Tren as he placed a proud hand over one of the boxes.

"Because this... is the future of our organization." "Why, what is it," Zhang asked further. "What I have here," Tren began as he opened up the first box. He then took out three bottles of odd looking chemicals and placed them on the table.

"Is a recipe for a brand new money making system!"

"It looks like you're going to try to cook meth," Zhang said blatantly. "While it may _look_ like that," Tren replied slowly, "This is not going to be used for meth."

"You'd better not blow up my fucking house," Zhang stated firmly.

"I told you, this is not meth," Tren repeated. "What I have here is the _opportunity_ to discover a new addictive supplement! I mean, do you know how rich this could make us!?"

"So how exactly are you going to market something like this," asked Zhang.

"Well it's easy at first," Tren replied, "All we have to do is create this and take it to a patent office and play it off like some sort of..." "How are you going to copyright something in _communist_ China," Zhang questioned loudly.

"Well for the record, I didn't say it would be easy," Tren began.

"Yes you did! You literally just said it would be easy," Zhang exclaimed. "No, I didn't," said Tren with a shake of his head.

Zhang placed his head into his right palm in annoyance. "You're not making any new and crazy drug. And you're damn sure not doing it in my house, because I'm pretty sure half of those chemicals you have there are volatile!"

"I will be totally honest," Tren declared. "Great," Zhang replied sarcastically, allowing Tren to continue. "And say that one of these boxes may, and or may not have a _teensy_ bit of plutonium contained in inside."

"No," Zhang said firmly, "With all due respect I would rather my house, not explode."

A pouting expression hit Tren's face and he quickly collected the boxes and walked out of the kitchen. "I'm telling Eva," he called out as he left the room.

* * *

Ichigo and Ulquiorra were now walking down one of the many winding streets of downtown Shanghai.

"So where's this restaurant you were talking about," asked Ichigo.

The continued to walk and look around to the decorations and signs that littered this concrete maze.

"Here it is," Ulquiorra finally stated as he pointed off towards a small restaurant just across the street.

"It's just up ahead," Ulquiorra replied. "When do you have to meet Eva," Ulquiorra questioned back. "Not for another few hours," said Ichigo. "We still have enough time to see the Lupu bridge."

* * *

Eva walked into a rather large room. The room was mostly white with an ellipses table at the center. Several other people sat around the table while one man with short black hair, and amber eyes stood at the head of the table.

Behind him was a wall of glass which revealed the bustling city below.

She took a seat at the end of the table as quietly as she could.

"Ah," the man with amber eyes began, "Eva! It's good you came, we were just discussing our new product."

Eva then nodded for him to continue.

"Now tell me Kesou... How many people are we trying to sell by January," asked a woman who was sitting three seats away from Eva.

"Our goal is to reach around two hundred at least," the man at the head of the table replied as he paced the area in front of the windows.

"What happens if we don't reach that goal," asked another man, sitting at the far left corner of the table.

Kesou paused and placed both of his hands on the table with a dark expression. "If we don't make this work then the entire operation will be cut."

Kesou then rose back up and returned to his pacing. "Now tell me," he continued, "What are your ideas for making our human trading system more efficient?"

"We could brand them," Eva said abruptly, "With some sort of illustration that would allow us to keep better track of them on the market."

"Eva," Kesou began with a sigh, "I feel as if you are only saying that to satisfy your own personal enjoyment."

"Why would say that," Eva questioned with a rather innocent smile as she leaned back in her seat and held her head up with her right hand.

"Eva, both Long and I know about your prejudice for the lower classes and that's all fine and well. But we would prefer more _objective_ view points in this meeting room," Kesou informed.

"That's fine," Eva replied quietly.

* * *

At the city hospital, Shei and Li where still waiting in the lobby.

"I swear to God," Shei growled, "If I have to wait here another godforsaken minute, I'm gonna start tazing people."

"Would you just relax," Li asked in a calming manor.

"Are you the officers who have requested hospital records," a woman asked from behind. The two turned to see a woman with black hair which had light brown highlights underneath. She had brown eyes and was wearing a standard nurse's uniform.

"_Damn_," Shei began as he eyed her up. "Shut up, Shei," Li growled before turning back to the nurse. "Yeah, that's us," he informed.

"Well, here is the information the police station is asking for," the woman stated and held out a manilla folder. "So, does this Lou Yomasa have any children," asked Li as he took the folder out of her hand.

"Yes," the nurse said with a nod, "He had two children. A daughter and a son, they're names and medical records are all in their," she then pointed to the folder.

"Thanks," Shei stated before leading the way out of the hospital.

* * *

Ichigo and Ulquiorra continued there stroll along the very immense, Lupu Bridge.

"Well I am defiantly looking forward to spending the rest of the month in this vast city," Ulquiorra informed.

"Yeah," Ichigo said slowly as he was rather awe struck by the sight of the bridge. He looked ahead to see they were now coming upon a stairwell that led up the large arches which not only crucial for supporting the bridge's structure, but where the reason for it's iconography.

Ulquiorra then stopped at the foot of the steps. "Are we really going up this damn thing," Ichigo questioned in intimidation.

"Don't tell me you are frightened by a small flight of stairs," Ulquiorra teased, although he did not lose his depressed composure.

"Ugh, fine," Ichigo said and threw his hands in the air, signifying he had given up. Ulquiorra then led the way up the stairs and Ichigo followed.

"This thing better not give way," Ichigo muttered to himself as he crossed his arms nervously.

They eventually made it to the top of the stairs and the two leaned over the railing and looked down to the water below.

"Well it is growing rather late," Ulquiorra announced as he stood upright and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yeah," Ichigo agreed, "We should head back to the hotel."

* * *

Eva opened the front door to Zhang's house and walked into the living room.

She immediately noticed a Clint Eastwood movie being shown on the television.

Tong was sleeping on the couch while Chou was munching on a bag of chips at the dining table. Zhang was watching the film and Tren immediately walked up from behind Eva.

"_Sis_," he whined causing the cyan eyed woman to turn to him.

"Zhang wont let me make a new drug that we could mass produce right here and make millions!"

"No," Zhang corrected while he continued to watch the film. "I just don't want you blowing my fucking house up!"

"Ah, shit man that wont happen," Tren stated and trotted over to the kitchen in defeat. "Please do not do anything dangerous, brother," Eva stated, and while she was smiling her eyes were visibly scolding him.

"Well I just came by to see how you all were doing," Eva continued. "I will see you all later, I'm going on a date tonight."

"Oh yeah," Zhang questioned without looking back, "You have fun." "Good to hear you finally have something to do other than sit in that dark house all day," Tren called out. "Well at any rate. Have a nice night," Eva replied as she left the room.

* * *

Ichigo returned to his room and shut the door behind himself. Night was closing in and he knew Eva would be around any minute to take him through and see some of the city at night, which he had not done yet.

He walked over to the first bed where the remote lied, and Ichigo snatched it up. He flipped on the television as he continued through his room.

The strawberry threw himself on one of the beds and lied their, listening to the plasma screen and watching the concrete wall lined with glass across the street.

"Eva is so strange," he thought to himself. "And this city is massive. I don't think we'll be able to see it all in one month alone."

His mind continued to leap from the subject of Eva's sudden appearance in his life to the vast city of Shanghai. His mind would flicker in this patter until dusk turned into night. His eyes soon reflected the amber glow of the city lights that now illuminated his world.

He soon heard a knock on the door.

"Coming," Ichigo called as he stood up and walked over to the door.

He opened it up and sure enough, Eva Yomasa was standing in the door frame. "Are you ready," she asked calmly.

Ichigo nodded dumbly at her and followed the black haired woman out of the room.

They stepped into the elevator and Ichigo pressed a familiar button, and soon enough they arrived at the lobby.

"This way," Eva stated as she gestured for him to follow.

Eva then led him out of the lobby and onto the streets which were now bathed in a golden glow.

Eva walked over to the side of the road where her black and yellow motorcycle awaited her return. She sat down and put her helmet on. She then abruptly threw a second helmet at Ichigo which she had stored in one of the side bags.

He just barely caught the helmet and placed it over his head before walking over to the bike and sitting in the small seat behind Eva.

Eva waited for a moment before she kicked the kick stand up and stood the bike upright. She soon switched the engine on but noticed something peculiar.

"Ichigo," she said abruptly. "Uh yeah," he questioned with a puzzled tone.

"Hold on to me," she informed as she scanned the roads for an opening to cross over to the left lane.

"Oh I'm holding onto the railing here," Ichigo replied. "That's fine," Eva replied, "Now would you kindly, hold onto _me_?"

"Uh... okay," Ichigo stuttered in slight intimidation with a bright red face. He wrapped his arms around Eva in the most appropriate way he could possibly manage and within a flash they were speeding down the road.

"Um, can you slow down a bit," Ichigo questioned in a frightened manor. "Of course not, silly," said Eva as he picked the speed up to a rapid pace.

Ichigo began to relax as he saw Eva's impressive driving skills and decided to turn his head and watched the lights as they blurred past.

The city of Shanghai had already made Karakura town, or even some of the larger cites surrounding his home town look similar to that of a small run down suburb. But at night, Shanghai was a completely new world.

He looked up to the canopy of neon signs with glowing Mandarin characters, advertising whatever businesses or restaurants that are in the area.

"I'm going to take you to my favorite overpass," Eva informed as they had left the familiar area Ichigo was use to walking around in with Ulquiorra. "Where is that," he questioned loudly over the sound of Eva's loud motorcycle.

"It's near Nanpu Bridge," she replied.

They eventually came to the overpass Eva was speaking of. Ichigo's eyes widened to see they were now driving over an over pass that constructed a perfect circle which lead to the Nanpu Bridge.

They rode up the large overpass and eventually, Eva pulled over at a curb just before they hit the Nanpu Bridge.

The two took their helmet's off and sat them in their seats before walking over to the guard railing and looking out to the water, which was sparkling with the city's amber glow.

"Thanks for taking me out here tonight, Eva," Ichigo stated. "Not a problem," Eva replied in her serene tone which Ichigo was beginning to find rather relaxing.

"Hey, would you like to come along with Ulquiorra and I tomorrow," he asked after a pause, "We were planning on going shopping tomorrow night."

"Of course I would," she said without hesitation as a shocked expression hit here eyes.

"He invited me to go somewhere," she questioned in her mind.

Ichigo looked over and noticed a small tear running down her left eye. "Are you alright," he inquired in a concerned manor. "I'm fine," Eva assured with a widening smile, "_I'm perfectly fine_."


	4. Pop! Goes the Weasel

**Day 4- Pop! Goes the ****Weasel**

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

Eva was lying in her quiet, dark, and eery bedroom. She had been listing to the rain and thunder for hours, occasionally getting up to watch television for short intervals.

She was still wearing her usual sleep outfit which consisted of a black shirt, and black pajama pants with white, cartoon skulls illustrated on them.

Her pearl bracelet and watch had been placed on her bedside table next to a lamp. This lamp was more than likely one of the most peculiar details in Eva's dark home. The lampshade specifically was odd due to the mysterious material it seemed to be made of. At first glance one would think it was made of goat skin or another form of vellum.

Eva continued to stare at the ceiling and outstretched her arm across her forehead. Eva soon opened one eye as she felt an ominous presence to her left. She lowered her arm and looked over slowly to see that same young version of herself, standing only a foot away.

The young girl smiled innocently and placed her index finger over her mouth. As she noticed Eva was not moving, the girl grabbed her left wrist and pulled her to her feet.

Eva complied and sat up in her bed. The strange girl then skipped off into the hallway. Eva ran her fingers through her black hair in confusion but followed soon after.

As Eva roamed the halls, her home seemed to light up around her. The dust and cobwebs on the walls faded away and where replaced by the vibrant colors her walls use to have.

The crooked and broken pictures that hung on this walls seem to repair themselves magically. The lights in the house which haven't been used in a long time suddenly switched on.

"Oh," Eva reminded herself in a serene tone. "I remember now. This place wasn't always the run down cave it has now become. My family would often visit me. The lights were used constantly, noise was always sounding off, and the moods were much happier."

Eva noticed the young girl was watching her at the end of the hallway, leading to her stairwell. As soon as she noticed Eva was following the girl let out an echoing laugh before darting down the steps.

Eva walked down the stairs to see the young girl pointing over to the sofa. There sat another version of Eva as a teenager. Her father, Lou Yomasa had blue eyes and black hair. He along with a teenage Tren, a small boy, and another man sat next to her.

The man sitting next to Tren had brown eyes and black hair. He sat quietly, allowing Lou to do the talking. The small boy sitting in this man's lap had similar features.

"Eva," Lou began, "I'm telling you it will all work out. In a few years, you two will be married and so on and so fourth."

Before Eva could make a reply, a loud rattling could be heard from the kitchen. Eva then stood up abruptly, "I'll be right back," she stated and walked to the kitchen before shutting the door behind herself.

The Eva who was viewing these events of the past transpire before her eyes, followed the teenage version of herself into the kitchen.

Eva poked her head into the kitchen to see her younger self looming over a large aquarium on the counter near the sink. Inside lied a baby rattlesnake.

"This is the point in which everything shifted," she informed herself while continuing to watch the teenage version of herself.

The young Eva opened up the cabinet above the aquarium and as soon as she did; a small photo of Heinrich Himmler fell out and onto the counter.

Eva stared at the picture for a long time. "This place," she began and looked out of the window which was just above the sink. "Something is imperfect about it."

"It's too bright," she said and quickly closed the curtains, causing the room to immediately blacken. "No, that isn't it," Eva said with a strange look in her eyes. "This place is too clean," with that said Eva abruptly took several dishes on the counter and threw them to the ground; which caused them to shatter loudly.

"Eva, are you okay in there," a voice asked from the other room. At that point Eva knew what was supposedly wrong with her setting. "This place is too noisy, and too crowded," she stated quietly.

Meanwhile, the original Eva was still watching this all transpire when the strange young boy walked past her as if she was not even there and into the kitchen.

"Miss Eva," he asked in a concerned tone, "Are you alright?"

The teenage Eva turned over her shoulder while examining the boy with a new, and rather ominous smile.

The entire hallucination soon faded away. All around Eva, the people in the house, along with the illuminating lights, and clean home all faded back to what they are now; desolate, dark, and cold.

Eva shook the dream off and walked over to the counter. She opened one of the cabinet doors and took out a medication bottle.

She opened the bottle and slipped one of the purple pills in between her lips. She then closed the bottle and placed it back in the cabinet; just before she heard a loud rattling.

Eva looked over to see the aquarium was still there, only a large amount off dust had collected around it.

Her smile grew as she walked over and leaned into the aquarium where a full grown, diamondback rattlesnake liked curled up into a corner. The snake had a rust color to it's body and the diamond pattern lining it's back was black.

"_What_," she questioned aloud, "I already fed you today."

The snake continued to rattle loudly. "Do you want out," Eva questioned. After a few moments she let out a sigh, "Alright Dahlia, come here," she stated and opened the lid up causally.

She then reached in and abruptly picked the serpent up without fear of a bite. The snake did not attack however but was hissing rather aggressively.

Eva carried Dahlia into the living room and sat the creature down on the couch. It then began to slither about and inspect it's dark surroundings.

"There," she stated and placed her right hand on her hip, "You happy now?"

"Alright," Eva began with her right index in the air, "It's probably time for me to meet Ichigo, can you behave yourself while I'm gone?"

Dahlia simply stared and whipped her black, forked tongue out rapidly.

"I'll take that as a yes," Eva announced. "And yes he is rather cute," Eva continued. "No, thankfully he isn't of the poor. His father owns a clinic," she stated after a pause.

* * *

Ichigo was sitting on one of the beds in his room watching the television when Ulquiorra abruptly kicked the door down.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Ulquiorra began with a scold, "What in the name of all that is good, gracious, and lovable do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just sitting here," Ichigo said in confusion.

"Useless," Ulquiorra muttered and lied down on the opposite bed. "When will Eva be here," asked Ulquiorra, "I would like to start shopping sometime this year."

"Would you relax," asked Ichigo, "She's probably on her way now. Plus, we can't go out until this storm dies down anyway."

"Speaking of this Eva person," Ulquiorra began, "Do you not find her to be a little off putting?" Ichigo turned to him curiously, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Ulquiorra said more clearly, "That she seems to be rather ominous as far as the way she acts." "I suppose you're right, now that I think about it," Ichigo said in a pondering manor.

"I'm always right, that isn't the question," Ulquiorra informed. "The question is, why is she so interested in us?"

"I don't know," Ichigo admitted, "But I don't think she's _that_ creepy." "You only say that because you're attracted to her," Ulquiorra said dismissively.

"What!? No I'm not," Ichigo retorted harshly. "Then why are you blushing," questioned Ulquiorra without even looking at him.

"Regardless," Ulquiorra continued while Ichigo scolded him. "She just seems to me, like the type of character who would invite someone over and feed them a meal made out of human flesh." "What," Ichigo asked in shock, "Wait, that sounds familiar."

"Yes," Ulquiorra confirmed, "There was a story in America awhile back, about a husband who dismembered his wife and child. He cooked them into chili where he invited the wife's parents over for a rather... _exotic_ dinner. Ah, such a silly little world we live in."

Ichigo sat there on his bed for a moment dumbfounded, "I don't think Eva would do something like that," he stated. "Well, I hope not for your sake," Ulquiorra stated, "After all, it's _you_ she is most interested in."

* * *

Meanwhile at Zhang's house, Chou walked into kitchen with a loud yawn.

He walked over to one of the cabinet and opened it up before taking out a plastic ramen container.

Chou picked up a knife from out of the sink and pierced the saran rap that protected the carton. He threw the plastic off and tore the paper lid off partially as the instructions always dictated. Chou then turned the faucet on and filled the carton up with water. He opened the microwave up which was not but a foot away to his left and placed the carton inside.

Chou set the time on the microwave for four minutes exactly and waited for his meal to finish cooking.

He continued to wait until he noticed the microwave's timer read, '_00:02_' and abrupt cut off with a loud _ding_.

"What the fuck," he questioned in paranoia. "Why did it stop at 2!? Shouldn't this have stopped after 1? What could this mean, _man_," he exclaimed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Was the microwave programmed to do this at this exact date and time!? Think about what kind of number 2 is! If you add 664 to it, you get _666_! Oh God, now the devil is in on this shit," Chou stated aloud.

Tong walked in to the kitchen to see Chou standing in the far corner with a shocked expression on his face. Tong opened the refrigerator up before taking out a soda and closing the refrigerator door once more.

Tong then raised an eyebrow at his paranoid friend, "You okay," he questioned as he walked past Chou and out of the kitchen, "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

In the backyard, Tren was sitting at an outdoor table, looking over a test tube he had just filled with an icy blue substance.

He was waiting to go outside all day, and finally the rain had ceased its pouring.

"What the fuck are you doing," a voice exclaimed from behind, which caused Tren to jump and drop the test tube on the table. The glass tube immediately shattered and the contents splashed everywhere.

Tren looked behind himself to see Zhang scolding him from the frame of the backdoor.

"Oh," Tren began nervously, "Hey Zhang. What are you up too?" "Well I'm just trying to figure out what the hell you're doing!"

"I just might," Tren stated, "_Maybe_, possibly, be running a very small experiment on the chemicals I bought yesterday..."

Zhang slowly lowered his head and buried it into his right palm. "Did I not tell you," he asked in an irritated murmur. "That I really didn't want you to cook meth in my damn house?"

"This isn't meth," Tren retorted, "This is..." he then paused as he examined the substance he was working on more closely. "I actually don't know what this is," Tren finally concluded, "But I know it's not meth!"

"Tren," Zhang began as he looked to his latter with a hopeless expression. "Why are you doing this? It's not like you'll find anything other than a quick death. That, or me killing you after you blow my fucking house up."

"Look man, I've got this," Tren proclaimed, "I'm telling you! I know what the hell I'm doing. Now would you just relax?"

Zhang sighed with a shake of his head and stepped back into the house. Tren turned away but just when he did, Zhang walked back outside again.

"I swear to God if you blow my house up," Zhang said angrily. "Relax bro," Tren stated calmly, "I already told you. I've got this."

* * *

Elsewhere, Shei and Li where walking down a city street. Night would soon be on the horizon and some lights were already being flicked on.

Li looked over to Shei to see he was snickering under his breath. "Shei, what the hell is so funny?"

"That drunk guy, over there," Shei said with a laugh and pointed to a middle aged man across the street who was harassing young ladies that passed by.

"Ow, now he's puking on that bench at the bus stop," Shei stated and looked away in disgust. "Hmm, maybe we should just arrest him," Li suggested with his index to his chin in a pondering manor.

"Well he _is_ being a danger to the public, and he's disturbing the peace," Shei reminded. "Oh yeah, and there is absolutely nothing better for us to do."

"That's all the excuse I need," Li informed before walking up to the street. Shei followed him as he checked for cars and ran across to the opposite sidewalk.

"Yo," Li waved to gain the man's attention. The drunken man turned to them in a stupor, "What do you want, c-_cop_," he questioned in a slur.

"Uh dude," Shei stated and pulled his taser, "You are like... totally under arrest so why don't you just..." Shei's words were cut off as the man abruptly ran off in the opposite direction.

He would not make it too far however, until Shei fired his taser. The man felt two prods hit his back and fell to the ground due to the voltage.

"I think that might have been a little overkill," said Li while walking over to handcuff the man on the ground.

"Uh, I'm sure it's fine," Shei said dismissively and placed his beloved taser back into its holster.

"What about my friend," the drunken man questioned as he lifted his head up and turned to the opposite sidewalk. "What friend," Li inquired in slight confusion before he caught something rather... _odd_ running across the opposite sidewalk.

"Holy shit," Shei exclaimed as he pointed to what appeared to be another man, younger than the one they were arresting now, running down the street. He seemed to be completely without clothes while carrying a traditional Japanese sword above his head while screaming the phrase, "_Banzai_!"

"Uh," Li stated slowly, "Do we... arrest him too?" "I would think so but I sure as hell don't want to," said Shei. "Man, what the hell is up with Japs these days," Shei questioned further.

The two just sat there for a moment until Li nervously stood up, "Hey! If you don't stop running I'm gonna shoot you!"

With that said Shei followed his comrade through the streets.

* * *

Ulquiorra and Ichigo were sitting in their room watching television as they had been all day.

"Hm, it looks like it has stopped raining," Ulquiorra announced. "Oh yeah, guess it has," Ichigo stated while glancing to the window.

"You _guess_," Ulquiorra questioned while raising a curious eyebrow at his latter. "I would think you should know it is not raining. Seeing as how it is no longer raining."

"Oh give me a break, Ulquiorra," Ichigo replied with a sigh.

At that moment a knock was heard at the door. "I believe that would be Eva," said Ulquiorra as he picked up the remote and turned the television off.

Ichigo stood up and walked over to the door. He opened it up and sure enough, Eva was standing in the door frame with her relaxed and slightly haunting smile. She was wearing one of her usual, all black outfits along

"Hi Eva," he stated and backed away, allowing her to come inside. "Hello Ichigo, Ulquiorra," she stated and walked over to the bed Ichigo was previously lying on and plopped herself down.

"What are we going to do tonight," Eva questioned. "I just wanted to do some shopping," Ulquiorra informed, "But after that I think we will stop by a restaurant I have recently discovered on the map."

Eva then lied her back on the bed in a relaxed manor. "I assume we are leaving now," she asked, knowing that night had already fallen.

"Yes," Ulquiorra replied as he stood up. "Already," Ichigo questioned. Eva stood up and followed Ulquiorra to the doorway.

Ichigo opened the door and everyone walked out into the hallway, where Eva shut the door behind themselves.

The three walked over to a nearby elevator where Ulquiorra pressed the call button and soon the metal doors opened. They stepped inside and Ulquiorra pressed the lobby button, causing the doors to shut once more.

The trio would soon arrive at the lobby.

Ulquiorra led the way to the set of glass revolving doors. They soon stepped out onto the streets of Shanghai which were now illuminated by the bright amber, neon lights.

"Now," Ulquiorra began and pointed off down towards the left side of the street. "There is a store I have been meaning to investigate down here."

"Okay," Ichigo replied as he and Eva followed the depressed teen down the sidewalk.

"So, how has your time in my city been so far," asked Eva while she examined Ichigo. "Uh, we've had fun," Ichigo replied, "We've only seen a little bit of the city though. And what are you talking about when you say little town? This place is freaking huge."

Eva giggled at his comment, "I know. I'm just so use to this place that it seems small."

"Ah," Ulquiorra announced as he stopped and turned to enter a small store, "Here it is." The three then walked inside.

The store had several shelves filled with random souvenirs from communist propaganda, to Buddhist statues along with incense and other such artifacts.

"Hmm, I wonder if anything interesting lies in here," Ulquiorra pondered to himself as he calmly began to stalk the shelves for anything that might remotely catch his eye.

Meanwhile, Eva and Ichigo walked off to the side and stood against one of the two large windows which made up the front wall. They waited for Ulquiorra to return from his search as they themselves where not interested in the products.

"I'm still confused as to why you came to Shanghai of all places," said Eva. "Is that odd," asked Ichigo. "Well, usually, people go to Hong Kong rather than the communist area of China."

"This whole thing wasn't even my idea," Ichigo admitted with a shrug of his shoulders, "It was actually Ulquiorra's. He picked Shanghai over all of the other cites in this country."

Ichigo's words seemed to fade to the background as Eva noticed something peculiar in the far right corner at the back of the store.

She tilted her head to see what appeared to be a skeleton, standing exactly 5ft 9in, in full SS regalia with numerous medals along its chest. Another notable feature on this skeleton was a pair of circular reading glasses over its eye sockets. It stood behind the last shelve as if it had stopped its supposed shopping to stare at Eva.

The skeleton nodded its skull at Eva before abruptly flickering out of sight.

Eva then noticed that same 9 year old version of her self immediately run past her, laughing loudly before she too faded away.

Ichigo noticed Eva was now phased out and waved his hand in front of her eyes to regain attention. "Eva," he questioned, snapping her out of the hallucination and back to reality.

"Oh," Eva stated in a slight frenzy as she realized she was only daydreaming. "Whats up with you," Ichigo questioned with a lifted eyebrow.

"Nothing," Eva replied, "I'll be right back," Eva continued as she walked away from Ichigo and out of the store. "Uh... okay," Ichigo said in confusion.

Eva stepped out on the sidewalk and glanced around for a moment. When there was enough distance between where she stood, and the people walking around her. Eva took out her bottle of pills from her coat pocket covertly, and opened the lid.

She slipped one of the pills in her mouth before closing the lid back up and returning the container to her coat pocket.

Before she could walk back into the building however, Ichigo and Ulquiorra walked out of the open doorway and over to Eva.

"Well lets continue before it grows too late," Ulquiorra stated as he looked around the crowded area for any other store that might hold something promising.

At that moment however, a man significantly lacking in clothing while holding a sword above his head and screaming the phrase, "_Banzai_," ran right past them.

"How unpleasant," Ulquiorra announced while Eva quickly blocked Ichigo's eyes with her right hand.

After a few moments, two police officers... Shei and Li ran out of the crowd and towards the man who had now disappeared from sight.

"Hey, get your ass back here," Shei exclaimed as he lead the way to the other side of the street. "That's it," Li exclaimed while he reached for a mobile radio, and not breaking a stride. "I'm calling a fucking assault chopper!"

Shei and Li quickly left Ulquiorra and Eva's peripherals. Eva then removed her hand away from Ichigo's eyes.

"Well," Ulquiorra began, "I think this next store looks to be promising." He then walked over to the store next door to the one the three had just exited but paused just before he reached the entrance.

He then looked back to Eva and Ichigo, "Why don't you two go and find a table at the restaurant I had picked out." Ulquiorra took out the map of Shanghai he had tucked away in his pocket and opened it up. He then took out a red marker from his other pocket and circled a specific location before handing it to Eva.

"Oh I've been here before," Eva announced. "Come along, Ichigo," she continued and walked off towards a bus stop just ahead where several other people were standing at already.

Ulquiorra then walked off towards the store he now had his sights set on, while Ichigo followed Eva to the bus stop.

The two walked up and waited near the crowd. Ichigo leaned out to see a bus was already on its way. "You know, Eva," Ichigo began. "_Hmm_," she questioned as she turned to him with her ever present smile, which for Ichigo was beginning to come off as rather creepy.

"Ulquiorra and I have told you everything about ourselves. But we barely know anything about you," Ichigo informed in a slightly nervous tone.

"Oh, Ichigo," Eva stated with a sigh, "I'm not a very interesting person. There isn't much you really need to know about me."

"Uh... okay," Ichigo replied and looked away to the street in front of the two.

The bus soon stopped on the curve and everyone filed onto it.

Eva and Ichigo took their seats towards the back of the bus, and at the very first stop Eva stood up. "This is our stop, Ichigo," she informed and Ichigo followed her off of the public vehicle and back onto the sidewalk.

The looked to the restaurant directly in front of them, which was a two story building designed to look similar to the traditional Chinese style of construction.

"You'll like this place, Ichigo," Eva informed.

The two walked in and got a table on the second floor with a nice view of the streets below. They had a rather pleasant dinner, as they sat in the restaurant for two hours, and Ulquiorra did not show up.

"Hmm," Eva stated as she looked out the window, "Your friend hasn't shown up yet," she informed. "Yeah," Ichigo replied in a curious tone.

Eva then handed him a small piece of paper before standing up. "I've had a lot of fun this evening, and if you don't find your friend anytime soon just call me."

"Okay," Ichigo said slowly.

He then escorted her out of the restaurant and back onto the streets where Ulquiorra was leaning against the wall, fiddling with a jack-in-the-box.

"Ulquiorra, where have you been," Ichigo questioned in slight annoyance. "Oh, I was going to join you, but I found this little thing," Ulquiorra stated and turned the crank on the box. Once the crank was turned the familiar nursery rhyme of, '_Pop! Goes the Weasel_,' could be heard.

"You buy the most ridiculous things," Ichigo complained.

Ichigo's words faded into the background once more for Ichigo as Eva stared at the harmless childhood toy.

Her eyes widened in horror as she listened to the all too familiar melody and her smile almost completely faded.

She snapped back to reality with an unexpected jolt of her entire body as the clown popped out of the box.

"See," Ulquiorra began with as much enthusiasm as his depressed personality would allow. "It's such an entertain thing," he continued.

Eva looked to the ground while Ichigo began to ague with Ulquiorra. "I have to go," she muttered quietly.


	5. The Jester's Atrocity

_Note: I'll go ahead and announce that I place a cameo of a Bleach character towards the end of this chapter. My props to whom ever figures out who it is first. I will probably give this same character a few other cameos but I don't think I will bring this person on with an actual roll._

* * *

**Day 5- The Jester's Atrocity**

_(Location: Unknown)_

Ichigo woke up in what appeared to be a long hallway.

The hallway looked to be in a rather luxurious condition. The walls were dark brown and composed of a healthy wood, while small chandeliers illuminated the way.

As Ichigo stood up the hallway seemed to turn slightly, as if he were on a ship in a massive typhoon. He soon realized it was the hallway outside of his hotel room as he noticed the line of elevators and his room number.

He glanced over his shoulder before walking forward to explore this odd world further.

Ichigo continued down the hall, trying to keep himself upright as the hall kept twisting and turning. He eventually stopped as he heard 7 abrupt gunshots followed by the splashing of water in a room off to the right, ahead of himself.

He quickly ran over and threw the door open. Ichigo was immediately taken aback by the fact that the doorway did not lead to a hotel room, but rather what appeared to be a city park. Ahead of him was a small pond with a large amount of peaceful flora.

The _tranquility_ was soon interrupted as Ichigo took notice in a corpse floating in the pond. Ichigo tilted his head as he knew the body looked familiar but he could not make out who it was. The only clarity in this image was a live North American water moccasin, which was coiled around the right right forearm of the corpse.

Ichigo could visibly see a bright red rose in the left hand. It was the same color as the blood that was now filling up the once crystal clear pond. The fingers were so tightly wrapped around it that the rose's thorns had cut into the flesh of this corpse.

Another notable feature Ichigo had taken notice in was a small photograph floating in the water near the right hand.

"Huh," the strawberry asked quietly as he turned over his shoulders to see two shadowy figures standing behind him.

He could not tell what the looked like, but he could visibly see what appeared to be a submachine gun in the arms of the man who stood off to the left.

* * *

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

Ichigo woke up in a fright. He took a look around to find himself in his hotel room, in the dead of night. Although it was not very dark in his room, due to the golden neon lights that flooded in from the window.

He looked to the clock near his bed and rolled his eyes at the digital screen which read, '_2:05AM_.'

Ichigo stood up and walked over to the glass wall and placed his hands on the table which outcropped from the window. He pulled up a nearby chair and took a seat.

He sat there silently for a moment and watched the golden ocean of neon below. The sidewalks were vacant other than the occasional person that may walk solemnly down the desolate path. The roads were still flooded with cars, although they are noticeably less in their numbers from the time Ichigo had gone to sleep to now.

"Don't these people ever sleep," he asked himself aloud and rested his chin in his right palm, tiredly.

Ichigo's eyes then averted downward where a small piece of paper lied on the table with Eva's phone number written on it.

He debated on calling her for a moment but soon made up his mind. Ichigo walked over to where is bags still lied on the floor and opened one up. He searched it for his cellphone but had no luck. "I bet Ulquiorra took it," Ichigo told himself with a scold. He returned to the desk, picked up the paper, and walked over to the bed before sitting down. Ichigo then picked up the hotel phone, which was on the nightstand and began dialing the number.

* * *

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

_(Flashback)_

9 year old Eva was walking through the park when she stopped to see a man of the lower class scolding her. Normally, she would have either, not cared or simply not noticed. The only reason she did on this occasion, was because she knew the man.

"_Hey you_," he stated firmly.

* * *

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

_(Present Day)_

Eva awoke and abruptly sat up in her bed. She quickly realized she was only dreaming and sighed in relief.

She reached over to her bedside table and grabbed her bottle of medication. She opened the lid as routine and poured two pills in her palm; but before she could toss them into her mouth, her cellphone rang out.

Eva dropped the pills and bottle in shock and jumped slightly.

"Who could be calling at this hour," she asked herself as she picked the phone up.

Eva placed the phone to her ear, "Hello?"

"Uh... _Eva_," Ichigo asked nervously on the other end of the line. A smile took form on Eva's face to hear the familiar voice.

"Oh, hello strawberry," she said as pleasantly as she could in her tired state. "Hi Eva," Ichigo began timidly but quickly grew silent as he lacked any idea as to what he should say next.

"Why are you calling me at this time of... well, morning," Eva asked as she checked the time. "I'm sorry," Ichigo replied, "I couldn't sleep and I remembered you gave me this number..."

"I'm guessing you're calling because you want me to come over," Eva inquired. "Oh no, nothing like that," Ichigo stated frantically, not wanting her to have to drive around the city at 4 in the mourning.

"Well too bad, strawberry," Eva retorted in a mocking tone, "Because as it just so happens, I'm unable to sleep as well. So I'll see you in about... 15 minutes. Is that okay?"

"_Uh_..." Ichigo began hesitantly but was cut off as the line abruptly went dead. He sighed in defeated and looked up to the window and out to the amber world around him. "I'll see you later," he said quietly and hung up the phone.

Eva threw the phone on her bed and sighed tiredly.

She stood up and walked over to her closet. Eva grabbed a black shirt along with black pants, before proceeding out of the bedroom and towards the bathroom.

She stopped however, as soon as she noticed a closed door. Eva tilted her head uneasily at the door she had not opened since her youth. She gulped and slowly reached for doorknob, but at last the last second she stopped herself, and lowered her hand in defeat. Eva then continued to the bathroom.

After a few moments she stepped out into the hallway, wearing the same day cloths she had picked out. Eva also held her nightwear in her right arm, knowing she would probably sleep through the day in Ichigo's hotel room.

Eva walked down the stairwell and over to a coffee table that lied in the middle of the room. She then picked up her favorite book to read titled, '_The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century_.'

Eva then proceed to the kitchen where she left a left a live rat in the aquarium where her beloved serpent rested and left the house.

She walked over to her motorcycle, and placed her helmet over her head. Eva started the engine and sped off into the night.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ichigo was lying in his bed, watching the neon lights dance around from outside his window.

He sat there for around fifteen minutes before he could no longer bare the silence. Ichigo sat up and grabbed the remote from his bedside table, and flipped the television on.

A documentary on underground triad movements immediately came on and Ichigo switched the subtitles from English to Japanese.

After about twenty more minutes, a knock came at his door. Ichigo turned the television off once more before standing up and walked over to the door.

He opened it up to see Eva in the hallway, as expected.

"Uh... Hi Eva," he stated nervously and moved aside, allowing her to come in.

She walked inside and sat down on the nearest bed. Ichigo closed the door and sighed. "You know, you didn't have to come all the way over here," he reminded but as he walked back into the main room, he stopped himself to find that Eva was already asleep.

He rolled his eyes at the sight and walked over to the opposite bed before throwing himself down onto it.

* * *

_(5 Hours Later)_

Tren opened the garage door and stepped out into the driveway for a little break from all of his failed experiments.

"Damn, this is not working out," Tren murmured to himself. His thoughts were soon interrupted however, when two police officers walked up from the streets.

"Are you Tren Yomasa," the officer on the right asked. "Yes," Tren replied slowly and in slight confusion. "My name is Officer Li, this is Officer Shei," the man informed and gestured to his partner. "Hey," Shei greeted with a friendly nod but Li elbowed him.

"Oh... uh, _shame_ on you," Shei stated in a fake, deep voice.

"I'm sorry," Tren began curiously, "But what is this about?" "We're trying to get some information on your father, Lou Yomasa," Li confirmed. "First of all, is it true that he was a member of a local triad called the Beige Lotus?"

"Um... I will admit he was in a triad, yes. But I have no idea which one," Tren lied and covertly averted his eyes to the left for a split second.

"Uh-_huh_," Li said with a slow nod. "So do you have any information on him, at all?" "Well he was my dad," Tren began with a hopeless gesture of his hands. "But he was a secretive guy, and he's dead now. That's all I really can say on the matter."

Li thought on this for a moment and covertly hit Shei, who was staring off into space. "Alright," Li finally said with a sigh. "Sorry for the trouble but we're investigating the... well," Li then remembered he should probably not tell a civilian such as Tren about police affairs. "You aren't really inclined to that information, but if we need anything else, we'll just drop in."

"That's fine," Tren assured as he watched the two officers leave his driveway and disappear into the neighborhood.

"Oh man," Tren began as he abruptly darted for the house, "I've gotta call Eva!"

* * *

Meanwhile at a small plaza, Zhang and Tong were sitting on a bench. The faced a rather impressive fountain. Four tall rectangular frames jutted out of a square pool and water poured out from them.

"If my house is being engulfed in flames, man," Zhang began with a roll of his eyes. "Would you relax," asked Tong, returning the roll of the eyes but for a different reason. "I'm sure Tren knows what he's doing and even if he doesn't, who cares."

"That's the thing with you," Zhang declared while pointing an accusing finger at his latter. "You and your father are exactly alike. Not only do you two have the same name, but you also could care less about anything!"

"What's your point," Tong asked carelessly, only providing more evidence to support Zhang's theory. "Ugh, my point is," Zhang stated firmly. "If my house blows up, I'll be the only one who cares!"

"What about Chou," asked Tong. "I'm sure he cares about the house exploding, melting, freezing, or whatever the hell Tren might accidentally cause."

This statement caused Zhang to let out an annoyed sigh. "Oh please, that isn't the most endearing thing you can say to someone. _Hey Zhang, the paranoid guy cares about your house blowing the hell up_!" Zhang then rolled his eyes at the thought while Tong simply laughed at him. "Fucking _Chou_," said Zhang dismissively.

"I think you're paranoid," Tong admitted. The two then remained quiet for the next few moments until Tong spotted something curious ahead of himself.

"Oh, look at that," Tong announced without interest but did think Zhang would be interested. "Those were the dudes who shot at me the other day," Tong continued and pointed to a red car that was sitting in a parallel parking spot on the opposite side of the plaza.

"Wait what," Zhang asked loudly as his mind finally processed this rather shocking information. Zhang immediately grabbed Tong's collar and bolted off to a corner of the plaza, dragging Tong along with him; this being completely against his will.

"The hell is your problem," Tong asked in a dizzy slur. "Shut up, man," Zhang ordered. "You say those were the guys who shot at you?" "Yeah," Tong assured with a nod and shrug of his shoulders.

"So," Zhang explained in the clearest manor he was able to conjure, "Do you not think it's a bad idea to be sitting in plane sight for these guys to spot you!?"

"Uh, I didn't think they would notice us," Tong admitted, "But even if they do, then who cares? What are they gonna do, anyway? Pull guns out in a public place like this, I don't think so."

"You're an idiot," Zhang said blatantly.

* * *

Eva woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She sat up and pulled it out of her pocket before answering.

"_Hello_," she questioned while scanning the room for Ichigo although, he was nowhere in sight. "Hey Eva," Tren's voice rang out on the other end of the line, in a rather timid manor.

"Do you need something, Tren," asked Eva. "Um," Tren began. "I just thought you might want to know that a couple of cops came by today and started asking about dad."

"That's peculiar," Eva announced without interest as her primary focus at the moment was trying to figure out where her orange haired friend had run off too.

"Yeah, they started talking about his involvement in our group but I didn't say anything. Other than the fact that he was involved," Tren informed.

"So why does this concern me in anyway," Eva inquired. "Well, they might come and ask you a few questions. So just say he was involved in a group but don't say which one."

"I know how to deal with the police, _brother_," Eva assured as if this was common knowledge. "Well, I'm just making sure," Tren replied. "I know how you get sometimes..."

"And how do I act sometimes," Eva asked further in a teasing manor. "Oh, I-I didn't say that," Tren announced in an intimidated tone. "Alright, I gotta go but good luck!"

With that said, Tren promptly hung up the phone. Eva let out a sigh and lowered her phone to the bed. "Incredible," she stated quietly, "Even my own brother is afraid of me. It's probably only a matter of time before Ichigo and Ulquiorra follow suit."

Soon enough Ichigo entered the room from the hallway. "Oh, hey Eva," he stated with a wave, "You're awake."

"Yes, I am," Eva assured with a nod. "Ulquiorra and I are going to head to this place on the water tonight? Do you want to go with us," asked Ichigo.

"I would enjoy that," said Eva and her smile slightly faded. "But I think I will go back home now."

"Okay," Ichigo said in slight disappointment as he watched Eva stand up and walk towards the door. "I'll see you around though," Eva assured before leaving the room completely.

"Yeah, alright," Ichigo replied as soon as he heard the front door shut. He would have sat there in silence for a few moments but Ulquiorra abruptly popped up from behind him.

"So, I take it she will not be joining us," Ulquiorra stated which caused Ichigo to jump and whip around. "What the hell, when did you get here," Ichigo breathed in shock.

"How many times must I tell you, Kurosaki," asked Ulquiorra. "I am everywhere. Aside from that though, I know the rout to Yu Garden. We will head out at dark as it will most likely look more impressive when it is fully lit."

"Oh," Ichigo began as he crossed his arms, "It's called Yu Garden?" "Ugh, yes Ichigo," Ulquiorra complained. "Why must you always forget the names of these addresses?" Ulquiorra then noticed Ichigo was gazing out the window, "Are you even paying attention to me?"

Ichigo quickly snapped back to reality, "Uh yeah, I am." "Then what did I say," Ulquiorra asked in a an almost nagging tone.

"You said you don't think I listen to you when you talk about the addresses of the places we visit," Ichigo reminded. "That's not what I said," Ulquiorra retorted. "Oh," Ichigo stated while still not looking to his latter, "I was paying attention though."

"No you weren't," Ulquiorra informed while pointing an accusing finger at the strawberry. "Because if you _were_ paying attention you would know that those where my exact words."

* * *

Shei was lying on a black leather sofa which was kept nearest to the water fountain in the break room when Li walked up to him.

"Dude," Li began and held out a clipboard. "I just ran a background check and found out where that Tren guy's sister lives. Her name is Eva and..."

Li was immediately cut off by Shei's loud and slightly obnoxious yawning. "_Boring_," Shei exclaimed dismissively. "Well, this is an important lead," Li informed.

"Work is gay," Shei declared while pointing an almost prophetic right index in the air. "It's gross, it's icky, and I _hate_ it!" Li thought on this for a moment and realized that it was unlike him to actually care about the job he was paid to do.

"You're right man, I don't know what came over me," Li stated while chuckling at himself. At that moment another officer walked past them with a few files in hand.

"Hey," Shei called out, "I hope you know work sucks which means you also suck for doing it!" "Shut up, Shei," the man said dismissively without breaking his stride; as everyone in the station knew it was probably best to ignore both Shei and Li.

* * *

Eva walked back into her home and shut the front door behind herself. She let out a sigh as she seemed to be rather disappointed in herself.

"I could have at least gone with them today," she said quietly, but even that little whisper echoed loudly in the lonely home she resided in.

Eva walked over to the coffee table and threw her book and pajamas onto it. "I'll make it up to him tomorrow," Eva said to herself.

She would have continued to go about her business but stopped herself as he noticed what sounded like music coming from up the stairs.

Odd and ominous events always happened to poor Eva when she was home alone. This was _always_ the case when Eva had an exceptionally unfortunate day.

These events often occurred when had Eva taken one too many of her purple pills, as well. The odd thing in this scenario, was Eva had not taken one today.

Eva tilted her head curiously and walked up the stairs with slight caution. As Eva grew closer to the second floor she realized this music was the familiar melody of, '_Pop! Goes the Weasel_.'

She followed this simple melody which had looped several times by now. Eventually it lead her down the hallway to her bedroom and Eva stopped in front of that same doorway that had caught her eye just before she left to see Ichigo.

The door that had not been opened since her youth. It bared a haunting image in Eva's mind. This room was the one thing in the world Eva had shown any fear towards.

She gulped but did not lose her composure as she reached for the doorknob. She would normally never dream of opening the door but the music had her curious as the room _should_ be empty.

The door let out a chilling creak as Eva opened it up. She let her guard down slightly and opened it completely revealing an old, dusty, and dark room. It was humid inside. Two windows were present in the room. One was on the right hand hallway and the other was near a corner on the back wall.

They were both covered up by blinds only allowing a small amount of sunlight inside.

This was still the darkest room in the house however, cobwebs lined the ceiling and a green child's bike sat in the far right hand corner.

There was an old chest on the left wall but Eva was sure that it was empty She followed the sound of the music inside and eventually noticed a small box sitting in the middle of the floor.

The box had a crank that slowly turned with the speed of the melody. The music quickly stopped as if the box new Eva was watching it.

Eva giggled to herself in relief, "I could never forget this old thing," Eva told herself. "In my earlier days when I probably in hindsight, should have been admitted to an asylum, this little toy always kept me on the semi-sane side for whatever reason."

At that moment a clown-like figure jumped out of the box and let out a laugh. This laugh was a little bit too sinister to be considered the toy for a small child though. This laugh was what made young Eva so intrigued by it.

This jack-in-the-box was similar to Ulquiorra's except a clown did not pop out, but rather a medieval jester with a greedy smile on his face.

Eva's serene and often, creepy smile grew as she keeled down before the toy. She reached out to push the jester back into his cubical home when she noticed two small feet standing right behind the box.

Eva slowly looked up and realized the 9 year old version of herself was looming over her with an innocent and childish smile. One that contradicted Eva's smile in every way, shape, and form.

Eva stared at the child blankly until the child pointed off to the right. Eva turned and her eyes widened to see a man in a full SS officer's uniform looking out of the window, even though the blinds were still closed.

"_Heinrich_," she whispered in shock. Eva stood up and slowly approached the German soldier. As she came close enough she reached out with her right hand. As soon as she did however, the entity she believed to be Heinrich Himmler turned to her, revealing a skeletal face.

The dead man then flickered out of sight, causing Eva to fall to her hands and knees.

Eva then allowed herself to fall onto the dusty carpet and noticed the 9 year old Eva was still smiling at her from the distance.

Eva's cyan eyes then averted to the jester who also seemed to be watching her. The toy let out a laugh, "_Atrocity_," it stated sadistically before lowering itself into the box.

The 9 year old Eva flickered out of sight after this; leaving the only real person in the house, horrified by her own hallucinations.

"I don't want to stay here anymore," Eva whispered as a tear fell from her eye. "This place is sick."

* * *

Night would soon come and Ichigo along with his companion Ulquiorra were walking through the neon bathed streets until the came across a gate. This gate had two neon dragons on either side of it and led Yu Garden.

"This place is impressive," Ichigo stated in awe as he looked around to all of the traditional Chinese structures which were also outlined in gold neon lights.

"Well, that's why I picked it," Ulquiorra stated and thumped Ichigo on the forehead. "Hey," Ichigo groaned before he realized Ulquiorra was already walking off. "Come along, Ichigo," Ulquiorra called out, I have something to speak to you about."

The two walked out to a wooden bridge that led over a serene body of water. "So what was it you wanted to say," Ichigo asked as he watched a strange girl with amber eyes, purple hair done up into a pony tail by a yellow ribbon, and a brown shirt. She ran past the duo while laughing for no explainable reason.

"I want to talk to you about this _Eva_ person," Ulquiorra stated, completely ignoring his surroundings.

"Why do you keep talking about her like that," asked Ichigo, "She isn't much of a stranger anymore."

"Oh no," Ulquiorra questioned as he abruptly halted his stride and turned to his comrade. "When I was waiting to ambush you in your hotel room earlier, I over heard your little crush on the phone with what I can only assume was her brother."

Ichigo gritted his teeth as his depressed friend continued his lecture. "I was only able to hear half of the conversation obviously but from what I can gather is that she has connections to a triad."

"_What_," Ichigo asked in disbelief, "That's ridiculous!" "Is it," Ulquiorra retorted with a challenging scold, "Alright, I'll prove it to you."

"And how are you gonna do that," asked Ichigo. "My name is Ulquiorra Cifer," the man of disrepair reminded, "And I can do anything I set my mind too."

"If you say so," Ichigo replied with a laugh. "Well, I'm tired," Ulquiorra announced, stopping Ichigo in his tracks. "What!? But we just got here!"

"Exactly," Ulquiorra informed while pointing to the night sky. "Which is why we will come back tomorrow night."

Ichigo sighed in disappointment before following his depressed latter back to the hotel.

* * *

When Ichigo opened the door to his dark room he was taken aback to see Eva sleeping on one of the beds.

"Oh look," Ulquiorra said from behind which caused the orange head to to jump. "It would appear you have company," Ulquiorra continued and walked off to his own room.

Ichigo quickly stormed after him, "How did she get in," Ichigo questioned as he grasped Ulquiorra by the left shoulder.

Ulquiorra turned around and tilted his head, "I offered her your extra key card last night." Ichigo gasped at what he had just heard, "You did what!?"

"Well that's not the reaction I expected," said Ulquiorra, "I figured you would be happy. Thanks to me an attractive lady is in your room right now." "But you said she was a member of the triads," Ichigo exclaimed.

"No," Ulquiorra corrected calmly which only infuriated the strawberry further. "I said she might have connections to a triad. And I also thought you didn't believe me."

Ichigo clenched his fist at his friend, "Go to hell Ulquiorra," he stated in a growl before walking back to his room, angrily.

"That's the spirit," Ulquiorra announced proudly.


	6. Yu Garden

**Day 6- Yu Garden**

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

Night had fallen over an hour ago, and Li along with Shei were driving in car through the city. Li was driving around randomly as the two had decided it would be nice to see the lights while the worked. Meanwhile, Shei was typing away on his lap top, while a pack of gum sat in his lap near the keyboard.

"What the hell are you doing, anyway," asked Li. "I'm about to conquer the world," Shei informed as if his statement was no big deal.

"Oh, okay," Li replied causally, before his brain could fully process what was said. "Wait... What the hell are you doing to my computer," Li questioned in annoyance.

"I just told you, bro," Shei replied, "I'm gonna conquer the world." "I'm about to figure it out," Shei announced, "But it can't be that hard."

"Oh no, I'm sure it isn't," Li stated in sarcasm. "I'm positive you of all people out of human history can do it!"

"Hey," Shei inquired curiously, "Are you being sarcastic?" "Maybe a little bit," Li admitted while nodding at his partner as if he should already know the answer.

"Ya know, you could be a little supportive," Shei reminded. "I could if your ideas weren't 90% retarded and 10% stupid," Li informed.

* * *

Ulquiorra kicked Ichigo's door in as usual and scolded the strawberry lying on the left bed. "Are we going to Yu Garden sometime this _year_," Ulquiorra questioned.

"Ichigo sighed and sat up, "Yeah, I think we are." "Then where did Eva run off to," asked Ulquiorra as his depressed, green eyes scanned the room.

"She went to the pool on the roof," Ichigo informed, "I'll go get her."

Ichigo then stood up and walked over to the door, which was still open thanks to Ulquiorra's violent actions.

He shut the door behind himself and walked over to the elevator. He pressed a button and the doors instantly opened up. Ichigo stepped inside and pressed the last button on the panel, causing the metal doors to close once more.

The doors would soon open up on the roof of the hotel. Ichigo walked up to a metal railing and leaned over it, to see a lower level of the roof where a large, in ground pool sat. He looked to the right side of the pool to see Eva relaxing on one of the poolside seats. She was wearing a swimsuit, as expected it was black.

Ichigo walked down a nearby stairwell and over to her. "Hey Eva," he stated, to gain her attention. Eva looked over to him curiously, seeing that Ichigo had a puzzled expression on his face. "Eva, why are you tanning at night," he questioned.

Eva's smile grew, "Not necessarily," she replied as she took a look around, "The sun _was_ out earlier." "Oh," Ichigo stated hesitantly. "Was there something you needed, strawberry or did you just come up here to stare at me," Eva questioned with a lifted eyebrow.

"Ugh," Ichigo retorted and turned away quickly to hide his red face. "I just came to tell you that we're about to go to Yu Garden."

Eva sighed and stood up, "Alright, let me just change first." She reached for a white towel on the ground and wrapped herself in it, before following Ichigo back to the elevator.

Ichigo pressed the a button, causing the doors to open and the two stepped inside. He then pressed the button labeled F-26, and the doors shut once more.

"So how long are you going to stay with us," asked Ichigo. "I just need some time away from my house," Eva informed, "I'll stay another night if you don't mind, and I'll be out of your hair when you wake up."

"You can stay as long as you want," Ichigo informed. "Oh, I think I'll be fine, leaving tomorrow," Eva said with a light laugh.

She then noticed Ichigo's gloomy expression, "How about we have dinner sometime before you leave," she suggested. "Uh, okay," Ichigo replied. "But you're paying," Eva reminded.

"Ugh, alright," Ichigo groaned as the doors opened up. They stepped into the hallway and walked over to Ichigo's room, where Ulquiorra was waiting by the door.

"Are we ready," Ulquiorra questioned. "Let me just change back into my clothes," Eva stated with a nod.

* * *

Shei and Li continued to drive through the city.

"What are you doing now," asked Li, with a roll of his eyes. "I'm playing, Monkey Island," Shei informed with a giggle as he watched the screen.

"What," Li questioned in shock. "I said, I'm playing Monkey Island," Shei repeated. "What's Monkey Island," asked Li with a curious shrug of his shoulders.

"_Ack_," Shei exclaimed, which caused Li to swerve on an upcoming right hand turn. "You've never heard of Monkey Island!?"

"No," Li breathed while he tried to recover from the shock of nearly wrecking into a building. Li then glanced over to see Shei was silently watching him with a dumbfounded expression. "Come on, dude," Li said dismissively, "Stop looking at me like that."

* * *

Ichigo, Ulquiorra, and Eva stepped off of a bus, and onto the pavement.

Ulquiorra then lead the way down the street. "So," Eva began, "What do you two, want to do?" "I just planned to walk around the area," Ulquiorra announced.

"Haven't you been here before, Eva," asked Ichigo. "Of course I have, silly," Eva replied patted his orange head, which only served to irritate Ichigo.

"Would you stop doing that," Ichigo growled which caused Eva to laugh at him. "Well Ichigo," Ulquiorra stated and pointed to a gate ahead, "We should resume from where we left off yesterday."

"You guys didn't see much of the garden did you," asked Eva. "Not really," Ulquiorra replied as he walked off.

"Well, come on, strawberry," Eva announced before grabbing his left wrist and dragging him into Yu Garden.

"_Alright_," Ichigo groaned as he tried to catch up to her pace.

The three soon came to the same wooden, zigzagged bridge that Ichigo and Ulquiorra were visiting last night.

"Um," Eva began as she abruptly stopped and released Ichigo. Ulquiorra then stopped and turned to face the two, "What is it," he questioned.

"I just remembered," Eva stated and she began to back away. "There is a place I want to visit while I'm here but I'll catch up with you two later, if you don't mind."

"Very well," Ulquiorra replied as he and Ichigo exchanged confused glances to one another. "Meet us at that restaurant in half an hour," Ulquiorra continued, and pointed off to a building on the other side of the street.

Eva nodded and walked off towards the street before disappearing in the crowd.

"She is quiet, odd," Ulquiorra said in a pondering way. "Yeah," Ichigo agreed as he scanned the streets for any sign of where Eva was headed but failed to even spot her.

"Do you really think she might be a member of a triad," Ichigo inquired further, with a lifted eyebrow and curious expression.

"It wouldn't surprise me," Ulquiorra stated with a careless shrug of his shoulder's. "What makes you say that," asked Ichigo. "Her behavior does suggest her criminal tendencies. And I have a feeling she must have some connection in this city," Ulquiorra informed. "After all, you here her refer to Shanghai as _her_ city."

"I guess you're right," Ichigo agreed in a pondering manor. "I am always right, Kurosaki," Ulquiorra informed as he shot a scold to his latter.

"But it is quiet clear to me that your little girlfriend is either borderline insane," he said and pointed his index in the air. "Or she is medically diagnosable as criminally insane."

"Okay," Ichigo stated as this he did not believe, "She might be a little mentally unbalanced," he agreed and tapped the side of his head. "But there is no way she's criminally insane!"

"Perhaps you're right," Ulquiorra agreed, "But she is still dangerous." "Oh, come on," Ichigo said with a roll of his eyes, "She's a little creepy I'll give you that, but she's also really nice."

"Granted, Kurosaki," Ulquiorra said with a disapproving sigh, and shake of his head. The depressed teen then placed his hands on his hips. "The woman _does_ have her charms, but I find that entire act of her's impossible to swallow when I find this..."

With that said, Ulquiorra reached into his right pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a syringe with a clear liquid inside.

Ichigo was immediately taken aback by a two inch glimmering needle which was the first detail to catch his eye.

* * *

Shei and Li were still riding around the streets of Shanghai, when Li turned the steering wheel to the right and pulled over.

"The fuck," Shei asked in confusion and looked out of the window. "What are we doing at Yu Garden?"

"I've got a feeling that we should take a look around," Li informed. "But why," Shei asked curiously, "We've been to this place several times, it's like... totally boring."

"I know, I know," Li said in a calming tone, "But what's the harm in looking around?" "I'll tell you what the harm is," Shei exclaimed, "It's called work! This is about that triad case isn't it!? You're just trying to do some work!"

"We have to at some point," Li retorted. "Nah, bro," said Shei while shaking his head furiously in a wild protest. "That shit is not cool! We don't do work, we make the losers in the office do it all. I mean seriously, do you realize that work is the leading cause of cancer in all first world countries!?"

"What," Li questioned in bewilderment, "No it's not. That's just something you made up on the spot!"

"_No_," Shei argued and pointed at his partner accusingly. "That was a scientific study in America!" "No it wasn't," Li said and shook his head, disappointed in Shei. "How'd you know that," Li questioned in shock.

"Just come on," Li exclaimed with a roll of his eyes. "Fine," Shei replied in disgust, "But I don't like it!" "Fair enough," said Li.

* * *

Eva walked to an empty area, away from the many people who littered the streets around Yu Garden. She stood in a dark corner of the garden. Under her feet was a lining of stone that lead off into the water, while vegetation surrounded her.

She walked over to the edge and looked into the water for a few moments before she heard a voice from behind herself.

"_Eva_,_ is that you_," the frail tone of an elderly woman asked, and Eva immediately turned around. The woman before her had gray hair, cyan eyes, and an overall similar appearance to Eva.

"Grandmother," Eva blinked in shock, yet she quickly regained her ominous smile and serene composure.

"What is a snake like you doing in a place like this," her grandmother asked coldly. "I see you still do not have a very fond opinion of your own granddaughter," Eva announced while her smile did not waver.

"How could I not be disappointed in you," the woman questioned. "Regardless," Eva's grandmother continued before Eva could offer her answer. "I'm glad I found you here."

"Why would that be," asked Eva. "I want you to tell me something," her grandmother declared. "What do you want to know," Eva asked with a widening smile which was becoming more sickly by the second.

"Well, I know what you did to your mother," the elderly woman informed. "So you can imagine how worried I am about that sweet boy who was dating you around a year and a half ago. What happened to him? What did _you_ do?"

"Oh, him," Eva questioned with a careless shrug of her shoulders. "I'll be totally honest and say I don't know what happened to him or his little brother. I'm sure they're still lurking in these streets somewhere."

"Why do I not believe you," asked Eva's grandmother as she lifted her eyebrow. "I don't know," Eva admitted, "Maybe it's your low opinion of me," she suggested.

"Or maybe you're just paranoid," Eva added and gave a mocking smile.

"I'm not paranoid," the woman informed, "I know there is nothing you wont do to ruin someone's life." "Very cynical of you to say such a thing," Eva informed.

"Ugh, you're sick, child," her grandmother said with a shrug before turning away. "Well I'm leaving now," she announced, "I hope you shift into a somewhat decent person before I die."

"Is that right," asked Eva ask she slowly reached into her right coat pocket but her eyes quickly widened as she realized it was empty.

"Where is it," she questioned in her mind. Eva then thought of something and immediately held out her arm and checked the time on her watch.

"Oh, I need to meet Ulquiorra and Strawberry at that restaurant," her thoughts rambled on.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ichigo and Ulquiorra were still standing on the wooden bridge. "What is that," Ichigo questioned in a panic as he eyed the needle.

"It's a syringe," Ulquiorra informed. "I can see that," Ichigo growled, "But where did you find it?" "I found it on the floor next to the bed Eva was sleeping on. It must have fallen out of her coat pocket."

"And you're sure that's Eva's," Ichigo questioned loudly. "Yes," Ulquiorra nodded, "I am absolutely positive because it was close to where she threw that jacket of hers."

"I don't know," Ichigo said as two men walked past him. The one on the right had green eyes and black hair, while the one on the left had brown eyes and black hair. "Face it, Ichigo," Ulquiorra demanded quietly, "Eva Yomasa may be charming, but she is definitely dangerous."

"I still don't know," Ichigo began but was cut off.

"Hey," one of the two men said as they stopped and faced Ichigo and Ulquiorra. "We're sorry to interrupt," the man continued, "But my name is Officer Li Quang, and this is Officer Shei Wong." "_Yo_," Shei stated with a nod of his head.

"We're part of the Shanghai PD," Li continued, "And we couldn't help but here you say the word... _Yomasa_?"

"Oh yes," Ulquiorra confirmed with a nod, "We have just recently made a rather shady friend named Eva Yomasa."

"Eva," asked Li. "Hey," Shei interrupted and pointed to Ichigo, "You guys don't look like you're from around here."

"Yeah, we're from Japan," Ichigo informed. "No way," Shei whispered, "Jap," he said in a louder tone. "_Jappy_, Japs!"

"So anyway," Li interjected to quickly regain focus. "Are you guys are like... _tourists_ or something?"

"Yes, we're staying here for the entire month," Ichigo replied. "_Samurai_," Shei interrupted once more. "Uh... Don't mind my friend here," Li stated to refocus the conversation.

"Now what were you guys saying about this Eva person." "We met here when we first arrived," Ulquiorra informed, "And this fool starts growing close to her," he continued and pointed his right thumb at Ichigo.

"Do you guys know anything in particular about her," asked Li. "Nothing much at all," Ulquiorra replied with an unfortunate shrug of his shoulders.

"That's not good," Li began but was cut off once more.

"_Hah-yaw_," Shei's voice exclaimed from behind which was followed by a woman's shriek. Ichigo, Ulquiorra, and Li all turned in the direction where the disturbance was heard to see Shei was holding a fake karate stance while a petrified woman stood in front of him.

Shei then returned to his normal stance. "I could have ripped your face off," Shei said confidently before the woman ran off.

"Oh my God, Shei," Li exclaimed, "Stop attacking people! You're not a damn samurai!"

Li then turned back to Ichigo and Ulquiorra. "_Now_," he began, completely unaware of the fact that Shei was charging him from behind.

"The thing about this Eva person is," Li continued but was quickly cut off yet again as Shei leaped into the air as he closed in on his target.

"_Ninja power_," he screamed but Li simply stepped forward, allowing Shei to fly off over the wooden railing of the bridge they were standing on. "Oh shit," Shei exclaimed as he realized what was about to happen.

Li paused for a moment while holding his finger in the air, instructing Ichigo and Ulquiorra to hold their tongues as well. Soon enough, the three heard a loud splash and a sadistic smile grew on Li's face.

"As I was saying," the cop continued, completely ignoring the shouts from below. "You need to watch your backs around anyone with the last name Yomasa. We know a guy named Lou Yomasa was apart of a triad that we're now investigating."

"I told you," Ulquiorra said while nudging his latter by the elbow. "And was this Lou Yomasa related to Eva in anyway," Ichigo questioned, ignoring Ulquiorra's covert gloating.

"Yeah, we got medical records that say she is his daughter," Li stated while pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "It's not uncommon for the children to join in a triad gang as well," the police officer informed.

"Should we cease our contact with Eva," asked Ulquiorra. "Nah," Li said with a careless shrug, "As long as you guys play dumb she probably wont have any reason to kill you. Just call us if you find out any defiant information." With that said, Li took a card out of his left pocket, and handed it to the orange headed teen.

"Wow," Ichigo said as he took the card and examined it. "That's not terrifying," he concluded sarcastically.

"Oh man, you guys are fine," Li stated and began to walk off. Ulquiorra however, immediately remembered the syringe in his hand and held it out for the officer to see.

"Excuse me," he called out which caused Li to stop in his tracks. "We found this in our hotel room, we believe it belongs to Eva."

"Ew, that will be helpful," Li exclaimed and grabbed the medical item with slight greed. "Do you guys know what's in it," Li questioned as he examined it closely. "Actually, we have not the slightest clue," Ulquiorra informed.

"Oh my God," Shei cried out from the water below, "Could someone get me out of this fucking place!?"

"I'll take it back to the station and have it analyzed," Li informed before he gave a light wave and walked off to go assist Shei.

"Well, I look forward to hearing what they have to say," Ulquiorra announced. "I still don't know if I'd call Eva crazy or not," Ichigo said and scratched his orange hair.

"Fair enough," Ulquiorra said with a sigh as he lead the way to the front doors of the restaurant. The two stepped in and walked over to a woman standing behind the podium.

Ichigo allowed Ulquiorra to do the talking as he did most of the time. Eventually, they were guided to a table. They sat down and three menus were handed to them.

"So Kurosaki," asked Ulquiorra as he held the menu over his face but lowered it, only to scold his latter.

"What will you do when we find out she actually _is_ a wanted criminal?"

Ichigo paused for a moment and thought on this concept. "I don't know, Ulquiorra," Ichigo replied, "But I can tell you it will cut our vacation short."

"Pardon," Ulquiorra asked as he lowered the menu in curiosity. "I was just saying if she is a criminal we'll have to leave early," Ichigo repeated.

"No, we're not leaving early," Ulquiorra informed. "_What_," Ichigo inquired in shock. "We're not leaving early," Ulquiorra said slowly. "Just because you decided to play around with violent woman from a triad, does not mean I have to suffer. You will stay here and you will _like it_."

"I can't believe you," Ichigo announced, "How the hell are _you_ going to put the two of us in danger over a visit to Shanghai!?"

"Correction," Ulquiorra interjected, "You are the one who is in danger. I am the innocent bystander, who has nothing to do with any of this." "Wow," Ichigo said in a flabbergasted manor, "That's _real_ loyalty there, I'm proud you're on my side."

"Oh, you'll be fine," Ulquiorra said dismissively. At that moment, Ichigo's phone rang out from his pants pocket.

He pulled the phone out and scanned the number. "Oh, speaking of Eva," he said and glanced to Ulquiorra before answering the call and placing the phone to his ear.

"Hello," he asked and waited for a response.

"Hi strawberry," Eva's cheerful voice exclaimed from the other end of the line.

* * *

Eva stood in front of her motorcycle on the sidewalk outside of the hotel where Ichigo and Ulquiorra were staying.

"I'm sorry," Eva continued regrettably, "But I have to make a quick stop at my house to grab a few things, so I won't be able to make it to the restaurant."

"Okay, that's fine," Ichigo announced, "Do you want us to get anything to go for you?" "Hmm," Eva pondered, "I am rather hungry, so if you don't mind?"

"Not at all," Ichigo replied, "What do you want?" "Uh... surprise me," Eva finally stated.

"Okay," Ichigo said and the two hung up. Eva then turned to her motorcycle and grabbed the helmet. She placed it over her head and hopped onto the vehicle before activating the engine and driving off into the night.

She would soon arrive outside of her dark house and parked her motorcycle in the driveway. She stood up off of the bike and placed her helmet on the seat.

Eva then headed for the front door and opened it up. She walked over to the coffee table and picked up the remote. She flipped the television on to illuminate her living room.

Eva walked off to the kitchen, completely ignoring the fact that as soon as the television flipped on. Two figures could be seen, sitting side by side on the sofa. The one on the left was the 9 year old version of Eva, while the figure on the right was the skeleton in an SS uniform.

They watched her leave for the kitchen but did not follow her.

Eva reached for one of the cabinets after throwing one of the frozen rats into Dahlia's cage. She took out a bottle of the purple pills which definitely seemed to have a negative effect on her brain.

She then walked out of the kitchen and towards a stairwell.

She headed for the bedroom and walked over to the opposite side of the bed. She took a spare syringe out of a drawer in her nightstand. Eva then walked back out into the hallway, but slowed down as she passed the closed door that struck fear into her. It slowly opened which caused Eva to stop dead in her tracks.

She quickly closed it and walked quickly down the stairs.

* * *

Ichigo was sitting in his room after the long dinner with Ulquiorra. Eva's meal was sitting on the table towards the window, and he was sitting on the left hand bed, watching the television.

Soon enough, Eva opened the door and crept inside. She closed the door behind herself and walked out into the main area of the room.

"Hey Eva," Ichigo said with a wave, "I left your food over there."

"That is kind of you," Eva stated and approached him. Eva then leaned rather closely into Ichigo which caused him to move away in a panic.

"Strawberry," she began, "Have you seen a syringe lying around anywhere?" "Ugh," Ichigo said in a flustered and very nervous manor. "_No_," Ichigo finally lied.

"Aw," Eva replied and dropped her shoulder's in disappointment, "That is upsetting. It was my favorite syringe."

"Sorry," Ichigo said nervously, "But I haven't seen it."

"Oh well," Eva said in a careless tone as she stood upright and walked towards the window. "So, did you enjoy Yu Garden," asked Eva. She then sat down at the table.

"Uh... sure," Ichigo replied. He was even more nervous by Eva's behavior. A question immediately cropped itself in his mind as her words faded away. "What would Eva do if she found out Ulquiorra and I gave the syringe to those two police officers," Ichigo's thoughts echoed.


	7. English Boys

**Day 7- English Boys**

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

Ichigo woke up and sat upright in his bed. He turned to the table and quickly took notice in Eva who was sitting in that direction, while gazing out the window.

"Good morning," Eva stated without looking back as she could see his reflection in the window.

"Hi," Ichigo replied with scratch of his head. "Before I go home, I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to lunch," Eva questioned as she slightly glanced over her shoulder.

"Well I think Ulquiorra was wanting to do something today," Ichigo replied with disappointment in his tone.

Eva stood up and walked over to him in silence. She then leaned into him with her eternal smile, "_I said_," she began in her gentle tone yet she was definitely intimidating Ichigo. "Would you like to go to lunch with me?"

"Uh, okay," Ichigo said in a panic as he moved away from her, knowing she would probably not take no for an answer.

He then stood up while Eva lied down on the bed and waited for him to get dressed. He gathered clothes and walked into the bathroom for a few moments.

Ichigo soon stepped out and Eva examined him for a short while, "I don't like that shirt. You should consider changing it," she announced as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Ugh, fine," Ichigo groaned and walked over to the bags near the hallway and grabbed a blue shirt. "Actually," Eva began with a smile, "I would prefer a red one. I think red would look more attractive on you."

Ichigo let out a sigh and tossed the shirt onto the floor, before digging around in a bag and pulling a red shirt out.

He walked into the bathroom and changed his shirt but as soon as he walked out the first thing he noticed was that Eva was all but present.

Ichigo quickly sighted into a note lying on the bed and picked it up. He examined it for a moment before rolling his eyes with a loud sigh. In annoyance he threw himself onto the bed.

Not a second later would pass before a familiar cyan eyed woman in all black popped up from the opposite side of the bed, "_Hey_," she stated loudly which caused Ichigo to jump up in a shout.

"What's the matter," Eva questioned in a giggle, "Did you actually fall for that?" "What do you mean," Ichigo asked in irritation, "You left a note saying you were going home, and you were no where in sight!"

"Oh strawberry," Eva began as she stood up, "You shouldn't believe everything you read."

"But you," Ichigo began but gave up and simply rolled his eyes. "You were saying," Eva questioned with a lifted eyebrow. "Ugh, nothing," Ichigo replied.

* * *

Shei and Li were sitting on the roof when Jo walked up from behind.

"What are you two doing," Jo questioned with a scold. "Uh, not working," Li replied but did not look back to his latter.

"I can see that," Jo said with a scold, "I need you guys to come down to my office." "Why," asked Shei as the two finally turned to him.

"There are some people who are going to be working with you from now on," Jo informed. "So come meet them."

"Ugh," Li groaned and the two followed him back inside the building. They walked down the stairwell and eventually made it to the main floor.

They walked through the rows of cubicles and entered Jo's office where strangely enough, two Americans stood in the room.

The first one had green eyes and blond hair. His name was Jason Berman. He along with his friend wore identical green uniforms. The young man sitting next to him wore rectangular glasses over his amber eyes and brown hair. His name was Oscar Marner.

"Uh," Li questioned in confusion. "Hey," Jason began cheerfully, "My name is Jason Berman, and this is Oscar Marner. We're here to help you guys out with this case."

"Wait a minute," Shei began as he examined the two more closely. "You guys are from America! Why are you here?" "We just told you," Jason reminded. "I know," Shei said gave a dismissive wave. "What do you guys care about the triads?"

"We've been dealing with a lot of shit from these guys specifically lately," Oscar informed. "So DC thought this would be way for us to finally work together on something." "You mean other than outsourcing," Shei questioned with a smirk. "Basically," Jason admitted truthfully.

"In fact," Oscar began as he reached behind himself and pulled out an MP5 before handing it to Shei. "This is a personal gift from America. It's bad ass isn't it?"

"Hell yes," Shei exclaimed and quickly took the submachine gun and aimed down the sights. He scanned the room which made Jo nervous as the last thing he trusted Shei with was an automatic weapon.

"Why did you give that to him of all people," Jo questioned in his mind. "Alright guys," Li stated, "Let's go have some fun."

Jo immediately snapped back to reality with a puzzled expression. "Fun," he asked, "No way, you guys have shit to do."

"Uh," Shei replied as he lowered his weapon, "By shit to do, do you mean procrastinating? Because I would have to agree with you if that's the case." "Yeah," Jason agreed, "Work sucks, and I hate it."

"_No_," Jo exclaimed, "The reason you two are even working with Shei and Li is to keep them from procrastinating, because I figured you would be more mature than they are!" "_Boo_," said Oscar, "I just want to take a nap. Or tase somebody or something!"

"Hell yeah," Shei announced with an approving nod and quickly gave Oscar a high five. Jo simply shook his head in disappointment. "Look," he began with a sigh, "There is a woman waiting just outside my office. Her name is Xia Chang. She was the third daughter of Lou Yomasa."

"Huh," Li asked in shock, "I didn't read anything about a third daughter." "That's because you were to lazy to actually read the file," Jo informed with a scold. "You only scanned the papers for the word Yomasa."

"Oh," Li replied, "Maybe you're right." "Of course I am," Jo stated and rolled his eyes, "Just go out there and she'll give you whatever information she can."

"How did we get her to come here," asked Jason. "Because she works here," Jo stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "Uh... okay, we'll do that next week," Shei announced.

"No, you'll get out of my sight and do it right now," Jo said in a threatening tone.

"Fine," Li groaned and the group left the room in defeat. As the door shut behind them, Jo buried his forehead into his right palm. "Goddammit, I can't believe I have _four_ of them to deal with now!"

The four stepped back out into the main room of their current floor. Oscar looked over to the left to see a woman with black hair and Blue eyes which were slightly darker than Eva's.

She wore a forest green jacket over her usual police attire. Xia looked in their direction and smiled. "You are the men assigned to investigate my brother and sister right?"

"Uh yeah," Li said nervously, "Shouldn't we be?" "No, no," Xia began, "You are. Believe me, my sister needs an investigation. I have a feeling she is up to no good."

"Well my name is," Shei stated but was cut off, "I know who you all are," Xia informed. "So, what's wrong with this Eva person," asked Jason.

"Yeah," Shei added as he crossed his arms, "And what does she have to do with this Beige Lotus society?"

"I honestly don't know," Xia admitted truthfully, "My sister never trusted my."

"My brother Tren never really spoke to me that much either," Xia informed with an unfortunate sigh.

"Okay," Li said slowly, "Do you have any new info on this situation?" "No," Xia replied after a long pause, "But I am Eva's sister so it shouldn't be hard for me to find out."

"What do you have in mind," asked Oscar. "I'm going to pay Eva and Tren a visit tomorrow," Xia informed, "We haven't seen each other in about two years."

"And what makes you think they are going to tell you everything," Jason inquired. "Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Xia announced before walking off. She stopped herself however, before she walked too far away.

"Oh, and we now know what was in the syringe you guys brought to us last night," Xia informed. "Liquid cyanide was contained inside," Xia concluded before leaving the office all together.

* * *

"Damn," Shei said with a nervous shrug. "Okay," Oscar began, "You guys are going to have to catch us up on what's going on." "No problem," Li replied.

Tren was sitting at the table in the backyard of Zhang's house, attempting to create a new drug but as expected was failing at each attempt.

He picked up a test tube with an odd white mixture inside and held it up to the sun. "Ugh," he stated and rolled his eyes, "I bet this thing will just kill you." Tren then threw the test tube on the ground where it immediately shattered, allowing the toxic contents to spill out on the ground.

Tren then grabbed another test tube which had a bright red, and slightly frozen substance inside. "I can't even remember what the fuck this is," he said to himself before throwing that on the ground as well.

At that moment, Chou opened the back door and walked out from inside the house. A curious expression donned his face.

"Uh dude," he questioned hesitantly, "What are you doing?" "What does it look like I'm doing, Chou," asked a frustrated Tren.

"I'm trying to get rich!"

"How's that working out for you," asked Chou. "Uh, not too well," Tren admitted and rested his chin in his palm as he pondered for a new experiment. "I would be done by now if I were to actually have a way to test these mixtures," Tren informed.

"Why don't you just try them," Chou inquired with a lifted eyebrow. "Fuck no," Tren exclaimed and crossed his arms, "I know what's in em!"

"Well," Chou said as he just remembered something. "I just came out here to tell you that Zhang said if you drop another one of those test tubes on the ground he's gonna shoot you in your sleep."

"Tell him I'm not dropping them on the ground, I'm throwing them," Tren replied without interest. "Okay," Chou said and walked back inside the house.

"Now, where was I," Tren asked himself as he returned his attention to the chemicals before him.

* * *

_(Location: Unknown)_

Ichigo woke up, face first on a bed of concrete. He pulled himself into a sitting position and examined his surroundings for a moment to find himself in a subway.

The place looked to be abandoned, papers littering the ground and rats scurrying around on the floor.

He stood up and rubbed his orange head in confusion. "What is going on," he questioned in his mind. Ichigo then decided the better idea would be to have a look around.

The strawberry noticed a train was halted a few yards away. He approached it with slight caution and walked through the already opened doors.

The train was empty as anticipated yet Ichigo could hear a faint melody in the distance. He kept going until the melody became louder, and more familiar. The same melody played by Ulquiorra's jack-in-the-box.

The music became louder as Ichigo neared the back row of seats. He eventually came to the back of the bus and found a little box in the middle of a near by chair.

A loud and obnoxious clown soon popped out of the box with an awkward laughter. Ichigo jumped back for whatever reason but sighed and decided to move along.

* * *

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

Eva was sitting at a table in a restaurant while she watched Ichigo, who was clearly lost in a daydream.

She let out a sigh and abruptly plucked one of the many orange hairs out of his head, which caused him to immediately snap back to reality.

"Ow," he said and rubbed his head. "Ichigo, were you paying attention to me," asked Eva. "Uh, no... I mean yeah," Ichigo replied in a panic.

Eva giggled at him and stood up, "I'll be right back," she informed and messed his hair up as she walked past.

She stepped into a restroom and walked over to a near by mirror. Eva reached into her pocket and pulled out a bottle. She opened the cap and threw two purple pills into her mouth.

She then placed the cap back onto the bottle and concealed it into her coat pocket. Once Eva looked up to her reflection; and out of the corner of her eye, she witnessed one of the stall doors open slightly for no reason.

"Hmm," Eva said with a shrug of her shoulders before simply, walking out of the room.

She returned to the table and sat back down in her seat. "Ichigo, you don't look like you're feeling very well," she informed.

"I'm fine," Ichigo assured as he did not know exactly why she said that. Eva tilted her head at this, "Are you sure," she questioned.

Ichigo nodded with a curious expression. "If you insist," Eva replied as she stood up and walked over to the side of the booth where Ichigo was sitting, and abruptly leaned towards him.

"I hope you don't mind," she began quietly, "But before I drop you off at your hotel, I need to stop by my house."

"Uh, that's fine," Ichigo replied and leaned away from her nervously. "Alright," Eva stated as she stood upright, "I'll leave you to pay while I wait outside," she announced and walked off.

"Okay," said Ichigo, "Wait, me pay again," he questioned in a growl but Eva had already left his sight. He groaned loudly before taking out several yuan and placing the bills on the table.

Shei and Li along with there new English companions were walking along the street. Shei was still holding his newly beloved submachine gun, which frightened the nearby civilians.

"Ugh... _Shei_," Li groaned, "We get it. You love that damn thing, but would you put it away before you get us in trouble?"

"Hell no," Shei retorted cheerfully, "I feel like such a bad ass with this thing. Here, watch this," he said and abruptly aimed it towards woman who was walking next to them.

The woman let out a shriek before freezing in fear, and held her hands up. Shei stood silently for a short moment, "_Boo_!" The woman immediately darted off down an alleyway and Shei lowered his MP5.

"Well, at least he likes it," Jason announced with a shrug of his shoulders. "Can we get in trouble for that," asked Oscar.

"Uh... maybe," Li began. "It defiantly wouldn't surprise me," Shei added. "Yeah," Li said slowly, "We should probably get out of here before she calls the cops."

"Aren't we the cops though," asked Shei. "I think your friend is talking about the officers who actually respond to emergencies," Jason informed.

Without a second thought the four ran off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tren was still outside, working on his experiments. He placed one of the test tubes down and let out an annoyed sigh.

He stood up and walked over to the back door which had been left open by Chou.

Tren stepped inside and shut the door behind himself. He walked into the living room to see Tong was lying on the couch while a Clint Eastwood movie played on the plasma screen.

"Hey," Tren began, "Where did everyone go?" "Chou and Zhang are arguing in the garage about some Eco friendly shit," Tong replied with a lack of interest into the topic.

"Oh okay," Tren stated and walked off to the hallway which connected the front door, garage door, and stairwell together. He then turned and opened the door to the far left.

As soon as he did he noticed Zhang was just as annoyed as he always was. Chou was sitting under the car, fiddling around with the exhaust pipes.

"You are so stupid," Zhang announced with a scold. "Nah man," Chou replied, "This is a sure fire way to eliminate the smoke coming out of here."

"I would figure it would be Tren coming up with an idiotic idea like this..." Zhang would have continued had he not noticed Tren standing in the doorway.

"Hey Tren," he abruptly stated, "Can you tell this freak to stop screwing with the car. "Ugh, stop screwing with the car, Chou," Tren repeated.

"All I have to do is plug up this pipe," Chou began but was quickly cut off. "Alright that's it," Zhang said harshly and pulled Chou out from under the vehicle.

"You're not plugging up my exhaust pipe you circus freak," Zhang exclaimed while holding Chou by the collar.

"Fine," Chou retorted and ran off inside the house with a pouting expression. Zhang simply shook his head in disappointment. "_Idiot_," he told himself.

"Well I think I'm gonna head out for awhile," Tren announced and casually shoved his hands into his pockets. "Oh yeah," asked Zhang.

"I think I'll join you," Zhang continued, "This place is becoming tiresome." "Yeah," Tren agreed, "I'm freaking sick of working on those stupid serums, nothing works!"

"What the hell did you expect," asked Zhang, "Do you really think you're going to create some new, awesome drug that everyone wants?"

"_Maybe_," Tren said with determination while Zhang simply shook his head.

* * *

Eva and Ichigo finally arrived at the bleak, and rather quiet house. Rain clouds were starting to gather, although this was no surprise thanks to Ulquiorra watching the weather channel, the night before.

Eva turned into the drive way and turned the engine of her motorcycle off. She allowed Ichigo to get off and she immediately followed suit.

She lead the way to the front door and pulled a key out of her pocket before unlocking the door and opening it up.

"Well, this is my little home," Eva informed and gestured for Ichigo to enter the dark realm before him.

Ichigo stepped inside and scanned the dimly lit living room. He then heard a loud rattling sound and Eva immediately extended a protective arm across his chest to prevent him from moving forward.

"Come here Dahlia," she began and walked over to the sofa where Ichigo gasped to see a rattlesnake sitting on the comforter.

Eva then picked the snake up and turned back to Ichigo, "This is my little friend, Dahlia," she informed with a smile.

"That's a r-rattlesnake," Ichigo attempted to say in fear. "Mm-hmm," Eva replied with a nod, "I'll go put her in her aquarium so she doesn't get the idea of killing and eating you."

With those intimidating words said, Eva left for the kitchen.

Ichigo let out a relieved sigh and walked over to the couch and sat down. Soon enough, Eva returned to the living room empty handed.

"Okay," Eva began, "You just relax here, and I'll be right back. You can turn on the TV if you wish." "Uh, okay," Ichigo replied and Eva walked off towards the stairwell.

20 minutes would quickly pass and suddenly Ichigo heard a loud tapping from up the stairs. He listened to this strange and repetitive noise for 5 more minutes until he became uneasy.

"_Eva_," he asked quietly and tried to see what was going on up the stairs. Ichigo scratched his head at this and decided to tune the sound out by flipping the television on.

He grabbed the remote which was sitting on the right armchair of the couch and pressed the red button. The television turned on obnoxiously, causing Ichigo to lower the volume and he began surfing the channels.

Soon Ichigo fell asleep and woke up sometime later. He could tell it was growing dark outside. "How long have I been here," he whispered with a scratch of his head.

He looked over to see the television was showing nothing but static. "A dead channel," he questioned with a lifted eyebrow and quickly turned the plasma screen off. The tapping could still be heard from upstairs.

Ichigo stood up and scanned the room for any signs of life. "Eva," he called out but no answer. "She must have been up there for hours," the orange head informed himself.

He walked into the kitchen and slowly opened the door. He searched the room with his eyes and shut the door. Still, no sign of the cyan eyed woman.

He shifted over to the stairs and began climbing them, the tapping only growing louder with each step. As soon as Ichigo stepped onto the second floor the tapping simply stopped.

Ichigo stood and listened to the silence for a moment. His eyes averted to the left and he quickly noticed a doorway only a few feet away.

He opened it up and spotted a piano in the corner of the room. It was dusty as if it had not been played in a few years.

He stared at it for a few moments, and even though nobody was near the instrument; a deep note rang out from the far side of the room. Ichigo was immediately taken aback by this as there was no reason for the piano to sound off in that manner.

He slowly shut the door and moved on a ahead. Eventually he came to yet another door. Ichigo immediately received an odd vibe from it but he decided to open the door regardless.

He scanned the room, noticing a small bike on the right wall, a little box in the center of the room, and a closed chest towards the left wall.

"This place is creepy," he thought to himself, "Why would anyone want to live in a house like this?"

The chest to the left immediately caught hold of his curiosity and Ichigo could not help but move towards it.

As he came closer to the chest, he remained completely oblivious to the fact that Eva was standing in the doorway, watching him silently.

He leaned towards it and could catch a faint yet very unpleasant smell coming from whatever was inside.

Ichigo went to open it up but when he did, a foreign hand grasped his from behind.

Ichigo immediately jumped back with a shout but sighed in relief to see it was only Eva. "_Strawberry_," she questioned with a lifted eyebrow. "What are you doing in here?"

"Well," Ichigo began and rubbed the back of his head nervously, "You were up here for hours, so I was just going to check up on you."

"Silly," Eva said with a giggle, "Why would I be in there," she asked and pointed to the chest which Ichigo as only becoming more curious about.

"Oh... uh," Ichigo tried to create an excuse but he quickly gave up. "Come on," Eva stated and grasped his hand once more, as she seemed to be all too eager to distance the orange headed lad from the chest. "I'll take you back to your hotel now."

"Okay," Ichigo replied and followed her out of the room. Once they had returned to the hallway, Eva shut the door tightly.

She then began walking towards the stairwell when she noticed Ichigo was not following her. "Hey Eva," he began, which caused her to stop in her tracks and turn to her latter.

"Yes," Eva asked. "What was that tapping I was hearing a few minutes ago," Ichigo asked out of his own curiosity.

"Tapping," Eva questioned with a confused tilt of her head. "What tapping?"

"You didn't here it," Ichigo asked in shock. "No," Eva replied, "What are you talking about?" "Uh, never mind. I guess it was nothing," Ichigo stated dropped his shoulders in defeat.

"You shouldn't tell a girl eery things about her own house," Eva said with a growing smile. "Don't forget, I have to live here."

"Sorry," Ichigo stated and Eva walked off down the stairs.

As soon as she left however, Ichigo immediately heard that faint tapping coming from the room he had just exited. Ichigo let out a nervous sigh and quickly followed Eva.


	8. Urban Jungle

**Day 8- Urban Jungle**

_(Location: Shanghai, People's Republic)_

Eva awoke a little bit late in the day as she turned to her alarm clock which read, '_10:51am_.'

She groaned and allowed her head to fall back onto her pillows. After about ten minutes of debating on whether or not to go back to sleep, she forcefully sat her herself up.

"I wonder what Strawberry is up to today," she questioned quietly and scratched her head in a pondering manner.

She picked up the phone that was sitting on the nightstand, along with her medicine bottle which sat next to the phone.

Eva sat the bottle in her lap and dialed the number. She placed the phone to her ear and held it up with her shoulder as she went to open the bottle.

The phone soon went to a voice message and Eva hung up with a spark of disappointment in her eyes.

"He must be out somewhere already," Eva informed her self and placed the phone on the table. She then took the cap off of the bottle and downed two of the purple pills as she did every morning.

Eva stood up and walked over to the closed door which lead to the hallway. She opened it up and walked out, eventually arriving at the stairwell.

She stepped down it and walked into the living room. Strangely enough, there were already two figures sitting on the couch.

The one on the right was that of a skeleton wearing an SS officer's uniform, and had circular reading glasses over it's eye sockets.

The figure to the left was the 9 year old version of Eva.

They immediately moved away from each other as Eva approached them and sat down in between the two.

She definitely knew they were there but Eva simply ignored them, as she figured her sanity would flicker if she were to interact with them.

She grabbed the remote off of the nearby coffee table and flipped on the television.

* * *

Meanwhile, Shei was standing outside of Ichigo and Ulquiorra's hotel. He looked down to a card in hand, "Yep," he said to himself. "This is the place."

He walked into the lobby, passing through the almost symbolic revolving doors. Shei proceeded to the front desk where a woman was sitting with a bored expression on her face.

She had brown eyes and dark brown hair. She was fiddling with a pair of glasses and did not notice Shei had walked up.

"Yo," Shei said in masculine manner as this voice was one of many techniques he used to impress women.

"Oh, yes sir," the woman asked as she placed the glasses on the table and looked up to him. "Yeah, I'm Officer Shei freaking Wong. Ya know, of the Shanghai PD, here to serve and protect."

"Well, what can I do for you, sir," the woman asked while she covertly laughed at Shei's ridiculous presentation.

"Yeah," Shei said as he abruptly lost interest in her, which did catch the woman off guard. "I'm just here to see a guy named Ichigo, could you tell me where is room is?"

The woman shifted her eyes to her computer and scanned a roster for the name. "And you say your with the police," she asked and Li nodded.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," the woman said aloud. She then took out a piece of paper and wrote the room number along with the floor as well, before handing it over to Shei.

However, the woman scolded him and immediately snatched it away before Shei could take it. "Uh dude," Shei began, "That's like... totally not cool."

The woman seemed to still be slightly irritated that Shei had stopped hitting on her and wrote her number on the back of the paper followed by the name, '_May_.'

Shei then took the paper and examined everything that was written. "_Whatever_," he said with a shrug of his shoulders and walked off.

He approached a nearby elevator and pressed the call button. It soon arrived at his level and the metal doors opened.

Shei stepped inside and pressed the button labeled 26 which caused the metal doors to shut once more.

The would soon open once more and Shei walked out. He glanced at the paper and scanned the hall for an identical room number.

Shei walked over to a nearby door which caught his eye and knocked on it. The door opened and inside was Ichigo, while Ulquiorra was sitting at the table nearest to the window.

"Hey," Ichigo said in a pondering manner as he stepped aside and gestured for Shei to step inside. "You're that police officer," he continued. "Yep," Shei assured with a nod. "The name is Shei, and I've got some news on that syringe you gave us back at Yu Garden."

"Oh goody," Ulquiorra interjected and he immediately stood up and walked over to the two. "The crap inside that needle was a form of liquid cyanide," Shei informed.

A shocked expression quickly overshadowed Ichigo's face. "_Cyanide_," he asked in horror and Shei nodded. "Yeah bro, if I were you guys, then I would seriously considering not making that woman angry while you're here."

"Noted," Ichigo said slowly. "Ulquiorra," Ichigo began and turned to his latter, "We might want to go ahead and leave early..." Ulquiorra immediately cut him off with a dismissive gesture. "We are fine, Ichigo," the depressed teen stated. "Deal with it."

"Alright, well you guys have fun," Shei said with a nod and walked out of the room. "Easy for you to say," Ichigo growled in his mind as he scolded everything within his peripherals.

* * *

Zhang walked into the living room of his home where Tong and Tren were watching television. He looked over to see Chou was watching the television from the dinning room with a bag of popcorn.

"Tren, did you clean all of that shit out of the backyard yet," asked Zhang. "Nah," Tren said without interest, "I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"Well hurry up man, it looks worse Chernobyl out there," Zhang replied with a tired yawn and walked into the kitchen.

He opened the refrigerator door and took out a water bottle before closing it again. He went to take the top off of the bottle just before he heard a knock at the door.

"Wonder who that is," Zhang asked aloud. He then placed the water bottle on the counter, and walked over to the door.

He opened it up to see Xia standing just a few feet ahead. "Hey," Zhang began in confusion as he pointed accusingly at her. "You're Eva and Tren's sister, right?"

"Yes," the woman replied with a nod, "My name is Xia Yomasa. Uh, is my brother here," she questioned as she attempted to peak in the house from over Zhang's shoulder. "I would only like to speak with him for a moment."

"Oh, no problem," Zhang replied and looked back towards the living room. "Yo Tren," he called out. "You have a visitor!"

"You can come in if you want," Zhang stated as he glanced back at her just before heading back in the direction of the kitchen.

Xia stepped in the hallway and soon enough, Tren walked over to her. Xia could tell he was not thrilled to see her, but she did expect this.

"Yeah," Tren asked in disapproval and crossed his arms with a scold. "What do you want?" "Tren, all I need to know is where Eva is living these days," Xia pleaded. "You think I'm gonna tell you that," Tren questioned in shock.

"Get the hell out of here, Xia," he continued firmly. Xia let out a defeated sigh and dropped her shoulders. "Alright, I suppose it was worth a try," she finally stated, "Thanks anyway."

* * *

Li drove his car into an old parking lot that looked as if it had not been used in sometime. In the car with him was Jason who was sitting in the passenger's seat, and Oscar who was asleep in the backseat.

Li soon parked the car and threw a paper over his shoulder. It landed over Oscar's face, causing him to wake up in a fright.

Jason peered out of the window, and was confronted by a rather eery building that defiantly looked to be abandoned.

"Damn," Jason began in an intimidated tone. "We're not about to go inside that place are we?" "Of course," Li replied which caused Jason to bury his hand into his palm. "Or well," Li continued, "You guys are going in there. I'm not."

"Remind me why we're here, again," asked Oscar. "Well," Li stated as he picked his phone out from one of the cup holders. "I got a tip just yesterday that Lou Yomasa was using this building years before he died." "What was he using it for," Jason questioned.

"He wanted it for trafficking illegal shit," Li said blatantly. "I guess that should have been obvious," Jason muttered to himself.

"But anyway," Li continued in a more cheerful tone. "I'll be right here so call if you need any help." "Bullshit," Oscar stated in disbelief as he opened the car door and stepped out into the old and overgrown world.

"Yeah," Jason agreed as he did the same, "You'll probably just leave us as soon as we're out of sight." "Don't give me any ideas now," Li replied and with that, Oscar and Jason shut the car doors simultaneously.

"Stop slamming the damn door," Li yelled from inside the vehicle. "Geez, we didn't even slam it," Jason remarked. "Oh well, this should be fun," Oscar said with optimism.

Oscar then pulled out a flashlight and walked off towards the building. "Yeah, right," Jason murmured as he stared at the lonely complex for sometime.

"How are we suppose to get in," asked Jason as he had noticed the doors were boarded up. Oscar scanned the area and quickly noticed an open window. "There ya go, right there," he informed and pointed to the window.

Jason nodded and Oscar led the way towards the entrance. He carefully stepped inside, Jason to follow suit. The room was dark, just like the rest of the building. Desks were still littering the area. Cobb webs and dust lined the walls.

Oscar turned on his flashlight and shined it throughout the room. He eventually spotted a wooden door which probably lead to the main area of the floor they were currently on.

"God, this place is creepy," Jason said with a sigh. Oscar nodded and walked over to the door. He opened it slowly which caused a loud creak to be produced. Jason flinched at the sound as he hated the atmosphere the sound was procuring.

They stepped out into a hall which lead to the main lobby of the building. "How long has this place been unused," asked Jason, "There is still so much stuff here that nobody ever threw out."

Oscar ignored the question, only assuming it was rhetorical and walked on. They stepped out into the middle of the lobby and scanned the area for any sign of well... _anything_.

"This place must have been an office at some point," Jason stated aloud. Due to the utter silence of the building even his casual speaking was echoing throughout the walls. "Yeah, no shit," Oscar laughed and headed over to what appeared to be the front desk.

Oscar vaulted over the table and immediately turned around and started searching through the drawers until he came across a map of the building.

"Alright," he stated while his comrade Jason was busy searching the area for anything that might remind him of a cliche horror movie.

"I think we'll search floors 1 through 3 today. We probably shouldn't keep Li waiting out there for hours on end so lets make it quick." "Right," Jason said with a nod as he was not in the mood to stay in a place like this for more than an hour or so.

"Come on," Oscar announced as he pointed to a nearby hallway. "The stairs are this way." "_Stairs_," Jason asked in disappointment.

"Did you really think we would be using the elevator in a place like this," Oscar asked with a scold. "I guess not," Jason admitted and sighed loudly.

Oscar led the way down the dark hall until they came to a door with a simple stairwell sign posted on the wall. Oscar tried to open the door yet the knob did not turn.

"Damn, it's locked," Oscar stated in frustration as he continued to twist and turn the doorknob did not give in. "Okay," Jason said with relieved shrug of his shoulders and he started back the way they came.

"I guess we should probably just leave if there is nothing left for us..." "Not so fast," Oscar snapped and grabbed his cowardly friend by the collar of his shirt. "We can still use that," he continued and pointed over to a pair of elevator doors just across the hall from where the two were standing.

"But I thought you said we can't use the elevator," Jason began. "Not the elevator, you reject," Oscar informed with a scold, "I'm talking about the elevator shaft."

* * *

Meanwhile, Li was sitting in the car. His seat was kicked back and he seemed to be taking a light nap when the passenger door abruptly opened up.

Li woke up in a fight and looked over to see Shei was now sitting in the seat next to his.

"What the hell, man," Li breathed. "Oh, what's up bro," asked Shei with a confident wink. "I just got back from that orange headed guy's hotel. I told them about the cyanide and they seemed to take it will. I also got some chick's number but who cares?"

"Wow," Li said without a clear way of responding to the story. "Seems like you've had a fun day." "I did," Shei replied out of his own enthusiasm.

"On the way here I saw a homeless dude eat a live pig. It was bad ass," Shei continued. Li buried his head into his palm in disgust.

"Oh God," he slurred, "You can't be serious." "Of course I am," Shei exclaimed, "Headcheese and all!"

"Dude," Li began, "Isn't headcheese pig brains?" "You know it," Shei replied with a nod. Li nearly threw up at the thought but luckily his phone rang which distracted him from the disturbing mental images.

Li took the phone out of his pocket and placed it to his ear. "Yeah? What's up?" "Uh," Jason's voice said nervously on the other end of the line. "We are defiantly not alone in here!"

"I don't give a shit," Li snapped dismissively and hung up the phone.

* * *

Inside the complex, Jason put his phone away after he realized the line was dead. "What did he say," asked Oscar. "He said he didn't care," Jason informed.

"Oh well, you were probably just seeing things," Oscar suggested before walking over to the elevator doors.

He attempted to manually open them but it was all to no avail. "Hey, give me a hand here," Oscar announced and Jason ran up to him.

Together the two were able to pull the doors open and Oscar shined his flashlight into the empty elevator shaft. "Oh man," Jason said and dropped his shoulders in disappointment. "We have to use that ladder?"

"Yep," Oscar said and stepped into the shaft. He then walked over to the ladder. He tucked the flashlight in his pocket so that the light was shining upwards and he grabbed a hold of the ladder.

He began to climb up and Jason walked over to him. He waited of his comrade to move farther up the ladder and as soon as Oscar was at a proper distance, Jason followed suit.

The two kept climbing until Oscar stopped. "Hey," he called out, "Those doors are already open," Oscar then pointed to the elevator doors that led to floor 2.

Jason turned back and indeed the doors were open, but there was only one problem. They were on the opposite side of the shaft.

"How are we going to get over there," Jason questioned. Without a word, Oscar abruptly leaped off of the ladder and grabbed the ledge of the door frame.

"Holy shit," Jason said in subtle amazement.

"Come on," Oscar called as he pulled himself onto the floor and stood upright. "But I could die," Jason exclaimed. "Just do it," Oscar ordered, "If I can you defiantly can!"

Jason sat there for awhile and debated on the odds of him living. He suddenly caught a glimpse of a shadow moving just behind Oscar.

Jason then felt too creeped out to stay in the elevator so he climbed up to aline himself with the ledge, and closed his eyes tightly before jumping off. He reluctantly caught hold of the ledge and Oscar pulled him up.

Oscar walked on ahead while Jason sat down to catch his breathe and shake off the stressful moment. Oscar kept moving through the tight halls until he smelt something fowl in the air.

"Yo Jason," he called out and Jason stood up. "What is it?" "Do you smell that," Oscar inquired and Jason walked over to him.

He sniffed the air for a moment before he too noticed the smell. "Yeah, that's stinky," Jason replied and covered his nose.

"Can you tell where it's coming from," asked Jason. "Nah," Oscar replied, "Let's split up. You search the east side of the floor, I'll stick around over here."

"As long as it gets me away from that smell," Jason said with a shrug of his shoulders and walked away.

* * *

Eva was still watching the television, as she had been doing for sometime now. She had not moved from that same spot on the couch, and she was still wearing her pajamas.

For some reason the television shifted from the documentary she was watching to static. Eva stared blankly at the screen. She seemed to be in some sort of trance, and her lack of blinking made it possible for the static to reflect off of her glazed eyes.

Eva did not pay attention to the fact that the skeleton and little girl who were still sitting next to her were now staring directly at her.

The static seemed to growl louder and louder. This process continued for a good five more minutes before the sudden sound of a shaking rattle from the kitchen snapped the cyan eyed woman back to reality.

She looked around frantically, the hallucinations had disappeared and she was alone once again in her dark home.

Eva then processed what was going on, "Oh," she said to herself. "I bet Dahlia is hungry." As Eva stood up, she jumped to hear her phone abruptly start ringing from the coffee table. She picked it up and placed it to her ear.

"Hello," she questioned pleasantly. "Hi Eva," Ichigo's voice exclaimed from the other end of the line. "I got a missed call from you. Did you need anything?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to have lunch," Eva informed. "Uh, I would but Ulquiorra and I just got back from a restaurant," Ichigo said with regret in his voice.

"Well that's alright," Eva said cheerfully, "We will do something tomorrow." "Okay," Ichigo replied. "I have to go but I will call you later," Eva continued as the Dahlia's rattling was growing louder by the minute.

She hung up the phone and walked into the kitchen.

Eva grabbed a baggy out of her freezer which contained several frozen rats inside. She walked over and dropped one into Dahlia's aquarium where the serpent immediately seized the meal.

Eva smiled at her snake approvingly and walked out of the kitchen.

* * *

Back at the office building, Jason did not make it very far when Oscar called for him to return. Jason walked back to Oscar who had wondered into a nearby room.

"Hey, check this out," Oscar said as he looked up towards a tile in the ceiling that was closest to the far side of the office.

Jason stepped over to his side and looked up. "I think the smell is coming from up there," Oscar declared.

Jason sniffed the air and immediately held his nose, "Yeah, I would have to agree with you," he informed. Oscar then stepped onto a nearby box and reached up to the ceiling. As soon as he tried to take the tile down it broke in two and fell to the ground. Not far behind it, a very well decayed corpse fell from the interior of the ceiling.

The two officers quickly jumped back in shock. "Holy shit," Jason exclaimed while coughing on the terrible scent.


	9. Diamondback

**Day 9- Diamondback**

_(Shanghai, People's Republic)_

In the morgue of the Shanghai Police Department. Shei, Li, Jo, Jason, and Oscar were all examining the decayed body they had found yesterday.

"God, this place is creepy," Shei informed. He would not be incorrect, the place was underground and dead quiet. Due to a large storm outside, the lights flickered off occasionally.

"Once the storm clears," Jo began. "We'll send the dudes from forensics to go and rip that place up, in case there is anything left."

"Then can we go home now," Li asked with a painfully bored sigh. "No," Jo replied firmly and crossed his arms.

* * *

Eva woke up as usual in her bedroom. She let out a tired yawn and rolled over for a few more minutes. The cyan eyed woman then forced her self to sit up.

Eva rubbed her eyes to wake herself up further. She then leaned over to her side table and picked her bottle of medication up. She held it closer to herself and opened up the lid. Eva threw two of the purple pills in her mouth as she did every morning, before closing the bottle and returning it to its spot on the nightstand.

The woman then stood up and walked over to her closet. She carelessly threw it open and started filing threw her article of clothing.

Eventually, Eva pulled out a standard black shirt, and black pants. She proceeded to gather up her other, more consistent items such as her pearl bracelet, black boots, jacket, and underwear. Eva then left the bedroom and walked down the hall until she came upon her restroom. She opened the door and walked inside before shutting it behind herself.

Around 15 minutes later and Eva would walk out of the bathroom in her recently selected outfit. "_Ugh_," she began quietly to herself in disgust. However, she did not lose her normal composure, nor the false serenity within her tone.

"I just remembered, I have to go out of town today. I still don't know how long I'll be gone." Eva then walked down the stairwell and entered her dark living room. She continued over to the couch where she practically threw herself down.

She laid her head back and sat their for a few minutes that would soon turn to nearly an hour before she heard a loud rattling.

"Hmm," Eva pondered to herself as she listened to the rattling but had not yet gotten up. "Who is gonna watch Dahlia while I'm gone?" She turned and looked out the window with a tired expression. "Tren's out of the question. There's no way Zhang would allow my beauty to stay overnight."

She then sat up abruptly as if something had just come to her twisted mind. "What about Strawberry," she asked aloud, "I'm sure _he_ would watch Dahlia for me."

The rattling then became so loud that Eva forced herself to stand up. "Alright, alright," she said in an annoyed tone, and walked to the kitchen door. She opened it up and stepped inside, where one of the most venomous serpents in the western hemisphere resided.

"I'm feeding you, be quiet already," Eva said in a slightly complaining manner. She walked over to her refrigerator and opened the freezer. She took out a box and pulled a frozen mouse out of it. Eva then placed the box back in the freezer before closing it, and walking over to Dahlia's aquarium. She dropped the mouse inside the tank and admired the snake as it immediately attacked the frozen corpse.

"Well, somebody was hungry," Eva said with a growing smile. After a few more moments, Eva walked back towards the door and left for the living room.

She walked up the stairs and down the second story hall. She was walking rather quickly however, and slipped on a small pile of dust on her floor. Eva then fell to the carpet without even a shout escaping her mouth. Eva lied there for a moment. She raised her head and immediately noticed a pair a of boots only a few feet ahead.

Eva slowly looked up to see the person in front of her. She then realized it was a skeleton in a decorated SS uniform. However, before Eva could make eye contact from the hallucination, it seemed to fade away in the dark hall.

For some reason, Eva was not frightened by this. She was never frightened by any of her hallucinations, but this one gave her a different feeling. She suddenly felt lonely. The house was dark, motionless, and Eva was all alone in an upsetting silence. Eva's eternal smile suddenly grew in a rather shady manner.

"I'm so sick of this place," she whispered as quietly as possible, due to the fact that she did not want to disrupt the quiet atmosphere.

Eva then stood up and continued on to her bedroom.

She opened the door and stepped over to her nightstand. She picked up the phone which was lying next to a medication bottle. The phone was lying on top of three pictures of Heinrich Himmler.

Eva dialed Ichigo's number which she now had memorized and held the phone to her ear. She listened to the dial tone for several minutes.

Eventually, the dialing simply stopped, but no voice came out from the other end of the line. A couple of shadows shifted along the right wall of the room, just on the corner of Eva's peripherals. She did not seem to care about this, yet she was still frozen in that same stance.

She listened for only a split second until an answer rang out on the other side of the phone call. "_Hello_," a familiar voice asked.

Eva remained silent. "Anyone there," Ichigo inquired further. "_Hey Strawberry_," Eva abruptly replied in a friendly tone.

"Oh, how are you," Ichigo inquired. Eva could hear Ulquiorra in the background and assumed they were about to go somewhere.

"I need to ask a favor of you," Eva informed in the most innocent and slightly manipulative tone she could procure.

"What favor," Ichigo asked while he seemed to be audibly fighting with Ulquiorra on the other end of the line.

"I'll be going out of town today. I think it will only be overnight but I'm not exactly sure," Eva explained. "Can you watch Dahlia until I get back?"

"Wait a minute," Ichigo replied with intimidation in his voice. "You're not asking me to watch that snake of yours, are you?"

"Only for a night or two," Eva pleaded in a sweet tone. A short pause struck the conversation for a minute before Ichigo made his reply. "Alright, fine," he said in defeat.

"Great," Eva stated, "I'll bring her over in about an hour." "Okay," Ichigo said, slightly disappointed in himself to actually allow a snake to sleep in the same room he was. "Ulquiorra and I are going to be out in town today so we may not be here when you bring that... _thing_."

"That's fine," Eva assured, "I'll wait for you guys to get back. Thanks again." "Yeah, no problem," Ichigo replied before hanging up.

* * *

Elsewhere, Ichigo and Ulquiorra were sitting in Ichigo's hotel room. Ichigo was standing in between the two beds, while Ulquiorra was standing on the bed behind him.

After Ichigo hung up the phone, Ulquiorra jumped down, and kicked Ichigo in the back. "What the hell is your deal today," Ichigo inquired harshly. "You suddenly kicked down my door and started attacking me!"

"Because I have an idea on where we can go today," Ulquiorra informed. "Where," Ichigo growled.

"Why don't we visit the other side of the river today," Ulquiorra suggested. "We still have a lot to see on this side," Ichigo reminded.

"Are you coming or not," Ulquiorra asked as he walked towards the door. Ichigo let out an angered sigh, but reluctantly followed his latter.

They left the room and walked over to the elevator. It was already called so the doors immediately opened. The two stepped in and Ichigo pressed the button that would take them to the lobby.

* * *

Eva pressed the red button on her phone and placed it back on the table. She sat down on t he bed, and remained there for a moment and let out a sigh before standing back up.

"Hopefully, I won't be gone for to long," she told herself. She then walked out of the bedroom and stepped back into the hallway.

She proceeded back down the stairs. Eva stepped down into the living room. She then walked into the kitchen and stepped over to where Dahlia was already fast asleep in her aquarium.

She picked the cage up, causing Dahlia to stir and start shaking her rattle furiously. Eva walked back into the living room and headed over to the front door. She set the large aquarium down to the floor, only a few inches away from the door frame.

Eva then had an idea. However, it seemed to depress her even though her smile did not fade. She walked back into the kitchen and stepped to the refrigerator. She opened her freezer and took out the remaining frozen rats which kept between two gray cardboard boxes.

She quickly headed back into the living room and softly tossed the two boxes on top of Dahlia's cage. Eva then headed back up the stairs. She slowed her pace as she came to the upstairs hallway and eventually came to a stop near a slightly open door.

She opened it up and stared at the dusty old piano which looked to have been neglected for years. Eva stepped inside the dark room and carefully navigated to the bench which sat in front of the line of keys

Eva sat down on the bench and placed her hands over the keys. She then began to play a random piece of music with rather impressive talent.

She hit every note she was look for very accurately. This created a slightly eery tone. However, she then completely at random, hit a more upbeat tone. This song grew louder until it rang out through the dark and lifeless home.

Suddenly however, the song Eva was playing then softened. Eva played only a few more calm notes and then she stopped.

The house was silent once more, and Eva could immediately feel as if she were being watched. A feeling she often had in her little home.

Eva sat their for a moment. Her smile was ever present although wavering slightly and her eyes seemed as if they had given up all hope.

She then placed her arms on the keys which caused a loud and obnoxious set of notes to ring out. Eva then buried her head in her arms, where she remained for sometime.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chou and Tren were sitting at a restaurant. "So," Chou began as he stirred his food around. "I saw all of that chemistry stuff in the garbage. Why'd you throw it out?"

"Oh, I gave up," Tren replied. "Really," Chou asked, slightly shocked by this. "You gave up this quickly?"

"Yeah, screw that idea," Tren said with a dismissive wave. "I mean seriously," he continued. "I don't know what I was thinking. Creating a new and popular drug these days is next to impossible! I did however, think of another plan that I have to say, might be the greatest idea I've ever had."

Chou leaned in and gestured for him to continue. "So, what is it," he inquired curiously. Tren leaned back in his seat with confidence.

"I have decided that we should start investing," Tren finally elaborated. Chou looked at him with a confused expression for a few moments before he made his reply.

"You mean like buying shares and shit," Chou inquired. "Well, what else," Tren asked rhetorically. "This is the age of capitalism," he continued. "If we buy the right shares today. We could be billionaires tomorrow!"

"But... we don't have anything available shares to buy in China," Chou reminded. "That's why we have to invest in companies over seas. Like in America," Tren replied. "Isn't that one of the most illegal things you can do here," asked Chou.

Tren rolled his eyes and looked out a nearby window with a disappointed shake of his head. "Chou, you really don't get it," Tren proclaimed.

"There are plenty of covert channels we could use to get involved in the western economies," Tren said quietly, making sure that nobody was listening.

"Yeah, but I hear that stuff is super risky. I mean is it really worth it?" "_Is it worth it,_" Tren repeated and shook his head yet again.

"Of course it's worth it," Tren exclaimed in a hushed tone. "Think about the opportunities, man! We could become some of the richest people ever."

"The thing is," Chou retorted. "We are already probably being watched by the local PD. Do you really think it's a good idea to do something that..." Chou's tangent was cut off when Tren slammed his hand on the table.

"I've got it," Tren said with an awestruck expression. "Got what," Chou inquired without emotion. Tren thought for a moment before replying.

"Okay, this is what we do," he began. "We find an underrated product that's being planned for assembly line." "In America," Chou questioned abruptly.

"Most likely," Tren confirmed with a nod. "Then we become the top investors. Not only this, but running an all American business is super expensive." As Tren continued his rant like a mad scientist, Chou simply nodded with a slightly horrified expression.

"That's when we come in," Tren continued. "Wait," Chou interrupted and raised his hand as if h were in grade school. "Wouldn't we already be involved if we were investors?"

"Well, yeah," Tren said slowly and shrugged his shoulders. "But being the top investors wouldn't be are only role. Once the company gets established, we can open up a few sweat shops here," Tren proclaimed and gestured to the world around him.

"Then we offer to run their product through assembly here, for low cost. So not only do we get massive benefits for being the top investors, but we also will get a tone of money in shipping!"

Chou blinked at his latter with a blank expression. "First of all," Chou began. "There is no way of telling if a product would be super popular like the crap you're talking about."

"Hire a psychic," Tren muttered but to no avail as Chou continued his argument. "Secondly," Chou said and pointed his index finger in the air. "We don't have billions of yuan to open up even one sweat shop!"

Tren let out a disappointed sigh. "We may not have any of that stuff yet," he began. "But at least admit it would be better than living as criminals."

"Wouldn't we be criminals for investing in a company over seas," Chou asked but Tren ignored him as he simply got up and left.

Chou shrugged his shoulders and returned to eating his meal in peace and quiet.

* * *

Ulquiorra and Ichigo were riding on a bus across one of the bridges that led from either side of the Huangpu river. The duo were currently on their way back to the hotel, as they had already done a small bit of exploring on the other side of the city.

Ichigo turned to his latter, "Hey," he began but Ulquiorra did not turn to him as he was busy playing on his phone. "Would you mind watching a pet for me," Ichigo inquired further.

"No, I won't go near that snake," Ulquiorra retorted without so much as breaking away from his phone to scold Ichigo.

"How did you know," Ichigo asked with slight confusion. "I know everything," Ulquiorra murmured. Ichigo rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat.

The ride continued for an hour or so. This was due to the amount of stops the bus had to make along the way. Ichigo continued to look out the window while the concrete walls would roll into sight, and just as quickly disappear.

"Ugh," Ichigo began as they neared their hotel. "What are you groaning about now," Ulquiorra questioned without interest.

"Why did we have to go outside when it's raining like this," Ichigo asked. "Because, we had to do something," Ulquiorra reminded. "We can't just stay in the hotel room all day."

The two then felt the vehicle they were currently riding in, come to a sudden halt. "I believe we should get off here," Ulquiorra began as he stood up.

Ichigo let out a sigh and looked out the window where the rain was unrelenting. "Alright, lets hurry in their," he stated. Ichigo then stood up and followed his latter off the bus.

The two stepped out onto the sidewalk and Ichigo ducked and ran towards the hotel. Ulquiorra stood their in the rain with a blank and careless expression as the raindrops pelted his head. He then pulled his right hand out of his pocket; which was holding a small, red umbrella.

He promptly opened the umbrella before shrugging his shoulders and calmly walking to the hotel. Ulquiorra walked up to Ichigo who was stopped near a pedestrian walkway, waiting for the cars to pass so he could move forward.

Ichigo turned with a curious expression and examined his depressed friend. "Where did you get that," he asked loudly over the sound of rain hitting the pavement.

"I brought it with me," Ulquiorra replied as if it was common knowledge. "Why are you just now taking it out," Ichigo questioned.

"Because, I would prefer to not be wet when we get back to our rooms," Ulquiorra informed. "I would like to take a peaceful nap while I listen to you trying to take care of a snake that is probably larger than you."

Ulquiorra then turned away and faced the street to see that the cars had all passed, and the light on the opposite sidewalk had turned green.

"Oh, look," he began and pointed to the green light. "I believe it is our turn to cross." With the obvious stated, Ulquiorra walked off. Ichigo stared at him for a moment with a frustrated expression. "Bastard," he finally said to himself and quickly followed his friend.

The two walked up to the revolving doors and pushed them open with ease. Ichigo led the way to the elevator where he found one that was already at ground level.

The duo stepped inside and Ichigo pressed the button labeled, '_F-26_.'

The doors then closed and Ulquiorra looked up to a screen above the button panel which seemed to be keeping track of the floors they had passed. He watched it as it counted all the way to 26 and a loud ding was heard as usual.

The doors then opened and the two stepped out of the elevator. "Well, good luck to you," Ulquiorra said as he walked over to his room. Ichigo rolled his eyes at the comment. "Yeah, thanks," he said halfheartedly and walked to his own room.

He opened the door and sure enough, Eva was sitting on the left bed with that same eternal smile on her face. A smile Ichigo was starting to grow less and less fond of the more he saw it. Ichigo then looked over to the table at the far end of the room was an empty aquarium.

A nervous look then took shape over his face and he immediately turned back to his rather creepy friend. "Eva, where is the snake?"

"Oh, I think he's hiding under the bed," Eva informed as she pointed to the floor. "And your just sitting there," Ichigo asked in shock.

Eva shrugged her shoulders and did not seem to understand what the fuss was all about. "I left her food in your refrigerator," Eva continued and then pointed to where the room's refrigerator sat just under the table.

Ichigo glanced over to the refrigerator before returning his eyes back to Eva where he proceeded to scold her. He then crossed his arms. "This thing isn't venomous, right," he asked with a lifted eyebrow. "Her name is _Dahlia_," Eva reminded and glared at him while giving a more comical smile. "And no, she's very dangerous so please be careful."

The orange head immediately unfolded his arms and adopted an expression of both shock and horror. "You mean you that thing actually is venomous," he asked loudly.

Eva snickered at him quietly. "Well of course she is," Eva said with a laugh and scolded her latter playfully. "She is a diamondback rattlesnake after all," Eva continued. "The Americans don't consider her species to be one of the most venomous snakes in the western hemisphere."

At that moment, Dahlia began to stir out from underneath the bed. The reptile slithered out from behind Eva's feet and sneaked its way up to the top of the bed. It then coiled up right beside where Eva was sitting.

"So, what am I suppose to do," Ichigo inquired as he gave a hopeless hand gesture. "Don't get to close to her," Eva informed.

"Is this to close," Ichigo asked as he took a step towards the bed where Eva and Dahlia were sitting. He then took another step and jumped back as soon as he heard Dahlia's rattle go off.

"When she rattles," Eva began, "That means you're to close. Oh, and if she starts rattling randomly, that means she's hungry, but she's already eaten today so don't let her con you into a second meal."

"I don't think that's likely," Ichigo said as he continued to stare at the snake. He then slowly started leaning to the left and the snake's head followed him as if it were attached to the orange headed lad by a thin wire. Ichigo then shifted to the right and once more the serpent followed him with her eyes.

"Why is it looking at me like that," Ichigo inquired. Eva giggled at the sight even though it was probably not appropriate. "I have no idea. Usually she does that when she's about to eat the mice I feed her."

"Alright," Ichigo said in defeat. "If you could just put her back in the cage I'll have no problem with letting this thing stay here."

"Aw, thank you so much," Eva began in a cheerful tone. She then stood up and picked Dahlia up. Eva walked over to the aquarium and placed her inside. She then moved the lid over the cage, but was careless and did not lock the lid in place.

Eva stood upright once more and turned to Ichigo. "Thanks again," she said with a widening smile. "When are you gonna be back," Ichigo asked and scolded the rattlesnake with intimidation. "Oh, don't worry," Eva laughed. "I'll be back either tomorrow or the day after."

"I hope it's tomorrow," Ichigo informed. Eva giggled at the comment before thanking him once more and leaving the room entirely.

Eva stepped out into the hallway where Ulquiorra was waiting by Ichigo's door. He stood up off the wall when he noticed her. "Oh, hello Eva," Ulquiorra said with a quick bow.

"Hi Ulquiorra," Eva replied. "Is the snake in there," Ulquiorra inquired as he pointed towards Ichigo's room. "I would like to see it."

"Yes, she is," Eva assured and gave him a friendly nod before walking over to the elevator. Ulquiorra then headed into Ichigo's room where he would proceed to harass and torture his latter with the snake.

Eva stepped over to the elevator and pressed the call button. The doors soon opened and Eva walked inside. She pressed the button that led her to the lobby and away she went.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ulquiorra walked over to Ichigo and patted him on the back. He was busy scolding the snake and once the orange headed lad felt a hand on his shoulder, he immediately jumped and let out a shout.

"So," Ulquiorra began while Ichigo calmed himself down. "Snake sitting are we," he inquired further in an almost teasing manner. "But of course," the green eyed man continued. "My friend Ichigo would do anything to appease his beloved Eva."

"_Screw off_," Ichigo murmured in frustration.


End file.
